Tesla recalled more than 2 million vehicles after an investigation found autopilot safety system issues. The December Tesla recall is the largest ever for the company and impacts nearly all of its cars on the road in the United States.
This major Tesla recall comes over two years after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation into Tesla’s advanced driver assistance system, Autopilot, after 11 crashes where Tesla drivers had Autopilot engaged before hitting stationary first-responder vehicles, according to Consumer Reports. It also comes after a Washington Post analysis of NHTSA data found that there were hundreds of car crashes involving Teslas in Autopilot mode in 2019.
The recall includes the 2012-2023 Model S, 2016-2023 Model X, 2017-2023 Model 3, and 2020-2023 Model Y equipped with Autosteer, a feature Tesla defines as “traffic-aware cruise control,” according to NBC News.
“In certain circumstances when Autosteer is engaged, the prominence and scope of the feature’s controls may not be sufficient to prevent driver misuse,” the Tesla recall notice said.
Acting NHTSA Administrator Ann Carlson praised Tesla for agreeing to the recall, saying at a U.S. House hearing, “One of the things we determined is that drivers are not always paying attention when that system is on,” according to Reuters.
The previous NHTSA investigation found that the feature Autopilot feature doesn’t do enough to keep drivers from using Autopilot in situations where they aren’t controlling the vehicle. Tesla said it did not agree with that analysis but would send out an over-the-air software update to “incorporate additional controls and alerts to those already existing on affected vehicles to further encourage the driver to adhere to their continuous driving responsibility whenever Autosteer is engaged,” Reuters reported.
If your vehicle is affected by the recall, the latest news is that software version 2023.44.30 is already being deployed to impacted vehicles as part of a free update. According to Consumer Reports, all Model S, Model X, Model Y, and Model 3 vehicles equipped with Autopilot are getting this software update.
The update reportedly increases the text size on visual alerts (for Model Y and 3 only), adds a setting to activate Autopilot with one tap of the stalk rather than two on vehicles with steering wheel stalks, and implements a five-strike penalty that disables Autopilot for drivers who frequently ignore warnings to apply steering or to look at the road.
The recall specifically involves Autopilot’s Autosteer, which is a lane-centering assistance (LCA) feature that keeps vehicles between lane lines. Tesla’s Autopilot also includes features that allow a vehicle to handle commands like operating itself from highway on-ramp to off-ramp and maintaining speed and distance behind other cars on the road.
Although these features may seem fascinating, they are not without incident. Following a 2021 federal order requiring automakers to reveal crashes involving driver-assistance technology, the majority of 807 automation-related crashes investigated involved Teslas, according to a Washington Post analysis of NHSTA data.
If you or a loved one has been involved in a crash involving Tesla’s driver-assistance technology or other automation-related wrecks, Phillips Law Group may be able to help.
Our firm offers a free, no-obligation review of your case to determine your legal options and potentially receive compensation if you’ve been involved in a crash related to driver-assistance technology and “self-driving” cars.
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