U.S. NHTSA asks Tesla to respond by June 20 in brake activation probe
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration (NHTSA) stated Friday it requested Tesla Inc to answer questions by June 20 after it acquired 758 stories of surprising brake activation tied to the carmaker’s driver help system Autopilot.
In February, NHTSA opened a preliminary analysis into 416,000 2021-2022 Tesla Mannequin 3 and Mannequin Y autos in the US after the company stated it had acquired 354 complaints concerning the subject over the previous 9 months.
NHTSA stated the motive force help system permits the autos to brake and steer routinely inside their lanes.
NHTSA stated in February that “complainants report that the fast deceleration can happen with out warning, at random, and sometimes repeatedly in a single drive cycle.”
House owners say they’ve raised issues with Tesla, which has dismissed the complaints saying the braking is regular, and a few have known as it “phantom braking.”
The proprietor of a 2021 Tesla Mannequin Y informed NHTSA in October that, whereas driving on a freeway at 80 miles per hour, “the automobile braked exhausting and decelerated from 80 mph to 69 mph in lower than a second. The braking was so violent, my head snapped ahead and I virtually misplaced management of the automobile.”
NHTSA in August opened a separate formal security probe into Tesla’s Autopilot system in 765,000 U.S. autos after a collection of crashes involving Tesla fashions and emergency autos.
A preliminary analysis is the primary section earlier than NHTSA may subject a proper recall demand.
In Might 2021, Tesla chief govt Elon Musk stated dropping a radar sensor from its partially automated driving system would tackle “phantom braking,” which some Tesla drivers have lengthy complained about.
Tesla, which disbanded its media relations division, didn’t reply to a request for remark.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; modifying by John Stonestreet and Nick Zieminski)
