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Tesla says it is recalling some two million vehicles over issues with its Autopilot system which the NHTSA identified as “insufficient.”
Tesla Autopilot Deemed “Insufficient”
Tesla announced a wide-ranging recall affecting just over two million cars for what the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) termed “insufficient” drive attention monitoring when Tesla’s Autopilot is engaged. The recall will affect Tesla Model 3s 2017-23, Model S 2012-23, Model X 2016-23, and Model Y 2020-23.
Despite the name, Tesla’s Autopilot system is not self-driving; neither, for that matter, is their more advanced Full Self-Driving system. Rather, both constitute Level 2 semi-autonomous driver assistance system that still requires a driver’s full attention if not their hands on the wheel. (For more on autonomous driving “levels”, click here.)
NHTSA’s Assessment
It’s important to keep this in mind when looking at the NHTSA’s letter of acknowledgement concerning the recall, a recall prompted by NHTSA’s on-going investigation of Tesla’s Autopilot system. According to the NHTSA, Tesla’s Autopilot “may not be sufficient to prevent driver misuse…” and as a result it is possible that “…the driver does not maintain responsibility for vehicle operation and is unprepared to intervene as necessary or fails to recognize when Autosteer is canceled or not engaged.” In other words, NHTSA concluded Tesla Autopilot’s driver attention requirements were too lax.
Tesla’s Fix
Tesla says they will address the issue with an OTA (over-the-air) update to the Autopilot software. Per Tesla, their fix will institute “additional controls and alerts…to encourage the driver to adhere to their continuous driving responsibility whenever Autosteer is engaged…” and implement “additional checks upon engaging Autosteer.” If driver’s fail to respond appropriately to these alerts “eventual suspension from Autosteer use” will occur, something Tesla’s Full Self-Driving beta already does, with reported suspensions of the feature lasting one to two weeks in duration. It’s unclear how long such a “suspension” would be in the case of Autopilot.
For its part, the NHTSA says their investigation into Tesla Autopilot “remains open to support an evaluation of effectiveness of the remedies deployed by Tesla across the recall scope.”
Owners should receive notice of the recall by February 10th, 2024. For additional information, Tesla’s service number is 1-877-798-3752.
