By TOM KRISHER and MICHELLE CHAPMAN (AP Business Writers)
DETROIT (AP) — U.S. security regulators are turning up the warmth on Tesla, asserting investigations into steering wheels coming off some SUVs and a deadly crash involving a Tesla suspected of utilizing an automatic driving system when it ran right into a parked firetruck in California.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration mentioned Wednesday it’s launching a particular crash-investigation crew to probe the Feb. 18 crash involving a Tesla Model S and a ladder truck from the Contra Costa County fireplace division.
The firetruck probe is a component of a bigger investigation by the company into a number of cases of Teslas utilizing the automaker’s Autopilot system crashing into parked emergency automobiles which might be tending to different crashes. NHTSA has grow to be extra aggressive in pursuing security issues with Teslas up to now 12 months, asserting a number of recollects and investigations.
The driver of the 2014 Tesla Model S was killed within the crash and a passenger critically injured. Four firefighters had been handled for minor accidents, and the $1.4 million ladder truck was broken.
NHTSA is investigating how the Autopilot system detects and responds to emergency automobiles parked on highways. At least 14 Teslas have crashed into emergency automobiles nationwide whereas utilizing the system.
Automated driving techniques aren’t at all times concerned within the crashes that NHTSA sends investigators to. For occasion, the Ohio State Highway Patrol decided {that a} Tesla that hit certainly one of its patrol automobiles in November was not working on “any type of autonomous mode.”
Authorities mentioned the California firetruck had its lights on and was parked diagonally on a freeway to guard responders to an earlier accident that didn’t end in accidents.
Lewis Broschard III, chief of the Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, mentioned his division is anxious concerning the dangers that inattentive drivers pose to themselves, passengers and first responders.
“These unnecessary deaths, injuries, risks to firefighters, and loss of valuable equipment are all preventable,” he mentioned, urging drivers to decelerate and transfer over for emergency automobiles.
A NHTSA spokeswoman mentioned she couldn’t touch upon an open investigation when requested if the Teslas are posing a hazard to emergency staff.
NHTSA has been scrutinizing Teslas extra intensely up to now 12 months, searching for a number of recollects and opening investigations.
Earlier Wednesday, the company posted paperwork revealing that it’s investigating steering wheels that may detach from the steering column on as many as 120,000 Model Y SUVs.
The company mentioned it obtained two complaints during which 2023 Model Ys had been delivered to clients with a lacking bolt holding the wheel to the steering column. A friction match held the steering wheels on, however they separated when power was exerted whereas the SUVs had been being pushed.
The company says in paperwork posted on its web site Wednesday that each incidents occurred whereas the SUVs had low mileage on them.
In one criticism filed with NHTSA, an proprietor mentioned he was driving together with his household in Woodbridge, New Jersey, when the steering wheel abruptly got here off on Jan. 29, 5 days after the car was bought. The proprietor wrote that there have been no automobiles behind him, and he was in a position to pull towards the street divider. There had been no accidents.
It was a “horrible experience,” the automobile’s proprietor, Prerak Patel, advised The Associated Press. He mentioned he was within the freeway’s left lane when the steering wheel got here off and was fortunate the street was straight and he was in a position to cease the automobile on the divider.
Messages had been left searching for remark from Tesla, which relies in Austin, Texas, and has disbanded its media relations division.
At first a Tesla service heart gave Patel a value estimate of $103.96 to restore the issue. The service heart apologized in what look like textual content messages posted on Twitter.
When Patel wrote that he had misplaced religion in Tesla and requested for a refund, the service heart eliminated the cost.
Patel was later given the choice of protecting the automobile or getting it changed with a brand new one. Patel mentioned he selected a alternative.
Patel mentioned he’s a fan of Tesla CEO Elon Musk and has invested a big chunk of his financial savings within the firm’s inventory, which closed Wednesday down 3%.
“My kids were a little scared to ride in a loaner Tesla and, as a parent, we are able to restore their confidence,” Patel mentioned. He mentioned he hopes Tesla will examine and enhance its high quality management.
Detached steering wheels are uncommon within the trade, however not unprecedented. In February, Nissan recalled about 1,000 Ariya electrical automobiles as a result of the steering wheels might come off attributable to a unfastened bolt.
In addition to the Autopilot investigation, NHTSA has opened investigations throughout the previous three years into Teslas braking abruptly for no motive, suspension issues and different points.
In February, NHTSA pressured Tesla into recalling almost 363,000 automobiles with “Full Self-Driving” software program as a result of the system can break site visitors legal guidelines. The system is being examined on public roads by as many as 400,000 Tesla homeowners. But NHTSA mentioned in paperwork that it may possibly make unsafe actions reminiscent of touring straight by an intersection from a turn-only lane, going by a yellow site visitors mild with out correct warning or failing to reply to velocity restrict modifications.
The U.S. Justice Department additionally has requested Tesla for paperwork from Tesla about “Full Self-Driving” and Autopilot.
Tesla says in its homeowners guide that neither Autopilot nor “Full Self-Driving” can drive themselves, and that homeowners should be able to intervene always.
NHTSA has despatched investigators to 35 Tesla crashes during which automated techniques are suspected of getting used. Nineteen folks have died in these crashes, together with two motorcyclists.
Since January of 2022, Tesla has issued 20 recollects, together with a number of that had been required by NHTSA.
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AP Writers Olga Rodriguez in San Francisco and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed to this story.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”