By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, April 7 (Reuters) –
U.S. safety authorities said on Friday they are
investigating whether an advanced driver assistance system was
in use when a Tesla struck a 17-year-old student that exited a
school bus in North Carolina.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)
said Friday it would open the special crash investigation into a
incident in which 51-year-old driver of a 2022 Tesla
Model Y in Halifax County on March 15 reportedly failed to stop
for a school bus displaying warning lights and struck the
student. The driver was charged in the incident, according to
local media quoting North Carolina State Police.
NHTSA said Tesla’s advanced driver assistance systems were
suspected of being in use in the North Carolina crash. State
Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Since 2016, NHTSA has opened 40 Tesla special crash
investigations where advanced driver assistance systems such as
Autopilot were suspected of being used with 20 crash deaths
reported. The agency has ruled out Tesla Autopilot use in three
other special crash investigations.
Autopilot enables cars to steer, accelerate and brake within
their lanes without driver intervention but Tesla says the
feature requires “active driver supervision and do not make the
vehicle autonomous.”
Last month, NHTSA opened an investigation into a February
fatal crash of a 2014 Tesla Model S involving a fire truck in
Contra Costa County, California. The local fire department said
a Tesla struck one of its fire trucks and the Tesla driver was
pronounced dead at the scene.
In June, NHTSA upgraded to an engineering analysis its
defect probe into 830,000 Tesla vehicles with driver assistance
system Autopilot that involves crashes with parked emergency
vehicles including fire trucks. That step is necessary before
the agency could demand a recall.
NHTSA is reviewing whether Tesla vehicles adequately ensure
drivers are paying attention. Previously, the agency said
evidence suggested drivers in many crashes under review had
complied with Tesla’s alert strategy that seeks to compel driver
attention, raising questions about its effectiveness.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by David Gregorio)
((David.Shepardson@thomsonreuters.com; 2028988324;))
Keywords: TESLA CRASH/
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