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-- OriginalOwner_ writes:

WBTV, CBS television affiliate for Charlotte, NC reports

Tesla Motors says the Model S sedan involved in a fatal crash in the Netherlands wasn't operating in the company's semi-autonomous Autopilot mode and was going more than 96 miles per hour when it crashed.

The 53-year-old driver of the electric sedan died [September 6] when his car smashed into a tree in the central Dutch town of Baarn and burst into flames, police and firefighters said. Police are investigating the cause of the early morning accident in the town 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of Amsterdam.

Tesla said the car's logs show Autopilot wasn't engaged at any time during the man's trip, and that he was driving at more than 155 kilometers per hour, or 96 mph. The speed is consistent with the damage the car sustained from hitting the tree, the company said. Tesla sent representatives to the scene of the accident.

Electrek adds

The driver was reportedly dead by the time the firefighters were on the scene.

[...] The fire was difficult to extinguish according to the firefighters. They reportedly didn't know how to approach the vehicle without being electrocuted--leaving the body of the driver in the vehicle.

[...] Apparently, the problem wasn't due to a lack of knowledge on how to handle a crashed electric vehicle, but because of the state of the wreckage. [...] "This car is completely destroyed, hampering the recovery. In this situation, you never know what can happen."

Some of the battery modules reportedly fell out of the battery pack after the crash and subsequent fire.

Original Submission

[Eds Comment: The speed limit on the road was 90 kph / 56 mph. The vehicle is assessed to have been travelling at 154 kph/ 96 mph
See also: https://soylentnews.org/comments.pl?sid=15392&cid=398721]

charon writes:

Last Thursday the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration delivered the results of its investigation of the 2016 crash of Joshua Brown while he was driving a Tesla with Autopilot software.

"A safety-related defect trend has not been identified at this time and further examination of this issue does not appear to be warranted," NHTSA's investigators found. In other words: Tesla didn't cause Brown's death.

The verdict should relieve not just the electric car builder, but the industry at large. Semi-autonomous and driver assistance technologies are more than a fresh source of revenue for automakers. They're the most promising way to cut into the more than 30,000 traffic deaths on US roads every year. Today's systems aren't perfect. They demand human oversight and can't handle everything the real world throws at them. But they're already saving lives.

NHTSA's goal wasn't to find the exact cause of the crash (that's up to the National Transportation Safety Board, which is running its own inquiry), but to root out any problems or defects with Tesla's Autopilot hardware and software.

The content of the investigation report is available from the NHTSA web site.

[Editor's note: Recently the link to the report has been returning an error occasionally. As an alternative, the Google webcache of the page is available as is a copy of the report at archive.org .]

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takyon writes:

Tesla whistleblower's lawyer: My client may have been effectively swatted

A lawyer representing Martin Tripp has released a 10-page police report that he says raises new questions concerning a purported June 20 shooting threat to the Tesla Gigafactory near Reno, Nevada, where the technician worked until he was fired on June 15. The document was first reported by Bloomberg. A month ago, Tesla sued Tripp for alleged trade secrets violations, and he has recently countersued, claiming that he has been defamed.

The report shows that a call expressing vague concern over what Tripp apparently might do was somehow translated to law enforcement as a direct violent attack against the Nevada facility.

"How did it go from the call center to a very serious terrorist threat?" Stuart Meissner, one of Tripp's attorneys, told Ars late Wednesday evening. "I think that's a question that Tesla is going to have to answer in this litigation," Will Fischbach, another one of Tripp's lawyers, told Ars. Meissner, who obtained the report from the Storey County Sheriff's Office under a state public records request, wrote on Twitter on Wednesday that Tripp may have even been set up.

I present the "GigaGate" Police Reports Re the Tesla Giga Factory Terrorist Threat Incident & what may turn out to B the "SWATing" of our client.
We have asked to reopen the investigation as to the source of the reported "threat." Judge for yourself https://t.co/SYKpcQfjcl

Previously: Musk Alleges Tesla Model 3 Production Has Been Sabotaged, According To CNBC
Tesla Sues Former Employee it Accuses of Sabotage

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takyon writes:

Tesla Is Facing U.S. Criminal Probe Over Elon Musk Statements

Tesla Inc. is under investigation by the Justice Department over public statements made by the company and Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, according to two people familiar with the matter. The criminal probe is running alongside a previously reported civil inquiry by securities regulators.

Federal prosecutors opened a fraud investigation after Musk tweeted last month that he was contemplating taking Tesla private and had "funding secured" for the deal, said the people, who were granted anonymity to discuss a confidential criminal probe. The tweet initially sent the company's shares higher.

[...] The criminal inquiry is in its early stages, one of the people familiar with the matter said. Justice Department probes, like the civil inquiries undertaken by the SEC, can take months. They sometimes end with prosecutors deciding against bringing any charges.

Also at MarketWatch.

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Phoenix666 writes:

BBC:

Tesla has said it is updating the battery software in some of its models following two recent incidents where cars caught fire.
...
It follows reports that a parked car caught fire in Hong Kong, following a similar incident in Shanghai.
...
In a statement, the carmaker said: "As we continue our investigation of the root cause... we are revising charge and thermal management settings on Model S and Model X vehicles via an over-the-air software update that will begin rolling out today, to help further protect the battery and improve battery longevity."

Spontaneous combustion, not just for Spinal Tap anymore.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

The driver of this Model S was found to have only had his hands on the wheel for 51 seconds of the last 13 minutes 48 seconds of his trip.

One of the more highly publicized Tesla crashes in recent memory involved a man in Los Angeles plowing his Tesla Model S into the back of a fire truck. The car wasn't going all that fast and thankfully nobody was hurt, but it was a fairly gnarly crash nonetheless.

Part of the government's investigation into the crash involved finding out whether or not Tesla's Autopilot system had been engaged at the time of the collision and if so, determining whether or not the driver was paying attention to what was going on around them.

Well, it's been a while, but the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released part of the findings of its inquiry according to a Tweet published by the agency on Tuesday and hey, guess what? The driver of the vehicle was found only to have had his hands on the wheel as prescribed by Tesla (and good sense) for 51 seconds of the final 13 minutes and 48 seconds of the drive. Even worse, his hands weren't on the wheel at all for the last 3 minutes and 41 seconds before the crash.

When questioned by the NTSB as to what he was doing at the time of the crash, the driver stated, "I was having a coffee and a bagel. And all I remember, that truck, and then I just saw the boom in my face and that was it."

Clearly, there was a breakdown in the system here, and while Autopilot isn't a perfect system and while we've criticized its name as being somewhat misleading, the fault here doesn't seem to lie solely with Tesla.

The moral of the story here is that the advanced driver assistance systems, like Autopilot, that are found in many of the vehicles being sold today are not a form of self-driving. There is no "self-driving" car on sale today, and it's the responsibility of the driver to pay attention to the world around them as they drive.

Tesla didn't immediately respond to Roadshow's request for comment.

Original Submission

Tesla Autopilot Crash Driver 'Was Playing Video Game'

Phoenix666 writes:

BBC:

An Apple employee who died after his Tesla car hit a concrete barrier was playing a video game at the time of the crash, investigators believe.

The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the car had been driving semi-autonomously using Tesla's Autopilot software.

Tesla instructs drivers to keep their hands on the wheel in Autopilot mode.
...
But critics say the "Autopilot" branding makes some drivers think the car is driving fully autonomously.

The NTSB said the driver had been "over-reliant" on the software.

Tesla does instruct drivers to keep their hands on the wheel when using Autopilot, and an audible warning sounds if they fail to do so.

Does the Tesla branding of "autopilot" lure drivers into driving dangerously?

Tesla Crash Likely Caused by Video Game Distraction

Booga1 writes:

The NTSB has published a review of a fatal crash involving a Tesla in March 2018 that includes a set of safety recommendations.

MotorTrend and probably many other car sites discuss a new Tesla recall: https://www.motortrend.com/news/tesla-model-x-s-nhtsa-screen-recall/

According to the NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI), the problem lies with the Media Control Unit that runs the central display screen. If it fails, the screen goes dark, which means that neither the backup camera nor the climate controls will be displayed—and since Tesla displays its climate controls on the center screen, that means there's no way to turn on the defroster or defogger. (A rear-view camera and defroster are required by Federal law. This is why most cars, even those with video-screen climate controls, have a separate defroster button.) ODI says a failed MCU can also affect other safety systems, including Autopilot and the turn signal clickers.

The problem lies with the Nvidia Tegra 3 processor and its 8 GB of flash memory. Tesla installed the processor in about 158,000 2012-2018 Model S and 2016-2018 Model Y vehicles. The flash memory, which is accessed when the car is started, has a lifespan of about 3,000 program-erase cycles. According to the NHTSA, that equates to 5-6 years of normal usage before the system packs up. The agency says Tesla has confirmed that all MCUs will inevitably fail due to the design, and the NHTSA says it has already identified some 12,588 incidents related to MCU replacements.

My understanding of NHTSA recalls (US Federal Gov't) is that they stand forever. Tesla will either have to find a replacement that has longer lasting flash memory, or Tesla will have to bring these cars in before another ~3000 starts and replace the Nvidia processor again.

Or, I suppose Tesla could eventually buy them back and crush them...shades of GM and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Killed_the_Electric_Car

I have a 2003 car with one of the airbags that becomes dangerously explosive with temp/time, the car is on its 3rd airbag now. Apparently replacing with a new one with the same propellant is the cost effective solution for the manufacturer. I'm going to wait them out--I don't drive it that often and current plans are to keep it for another ~20 years.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

US safety regulator opens investigation into Tesla Autopilot following crashes with parked emergency vehicles – TechCrunch:

U.S. auto regulators have opened a preliminary investigation into Tesla's Autopilot advanced driver assistance system, citing 11 incidents in which vehicles crashed into parked first responder vehicles while the system was engaged.

The Tesla vehicles involved in the collisions were confirmed to have either have had engaged Autopilot or a feature called Traffic Aware Cruise Control, according to investigation documents posted on the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration's [(NHTSA)] website. Most of the incidents took place after dark and occurred despite "scene control measures," such as emergency vehicle lights, road cones and an illuminated arrow board signaling drivers to change lanes.

"The investigation will assess the technologies and methods used to monitor, assist, and enforce the driver's engagement with the dynamic driving task during Autopilot operation," the document says.

The investigation covers around 765,000 Tesla vehicles that span all currently available models: Tesla Model Y, Model X, Model S and Model 3. The 11 incidents or fires resulted in 17 injuries and one fatality. They occurred between January 2018 and July 2021.

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

Tesla must tell NHTSA how Autopilot sees emergency vehicles:

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation into Tesla's Autopilot driver assistance system continues apace. The Associated Press reports that on Tuesday, the NHTSA sent Tesla a letter requesting further information following 12 incidents of Autopilot-enabled Teslas crashing into emergency vehicles parked by the side of the road. In total, 17 people have been injured, and one has died.

[...] The investigation covers 765,000 Tesla Models S, X, 3, and Y built between 2014 and 2021.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Tesla's infotainment screen has offered video games for years, but in late 2020, the company enabled them while driving.

The probe covers around 580,000 Model S, Model X, Model 3 and Model Y EVs with this Passenger Play function. Tesla had previously added various video games to its center touchscreen but only made them playable when the vehicle was in Park. The ability to play games while on the move reportedly changed sometime in December, 2020, but it's unclear why the change was made.

Passenger Play does include a so-called "lawyer screen" with an interstitial warning that states "playing while the car is in motion is only for passengers." The screen requires a confirmation press to have access to the games, but the on-screen button can be pressed by passenger or driver.

The probe comes in the wake of a Dec. 8 story in the New York Times that investigated the concern. NHTSA reportedly engaged Tesla as soon as the following day.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Tesla's radar-less cars investigated by NHTSA after complaints spike:

Tesla is facing a new headache this week. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation into a "phantom braking" problem after receiving hundreds of complaints from owners of recent Models 3 and Y. In total, the NHTSA says that about 416,000 cars are affected.

In May 2021, Tesla decided to remove the forward-looking radar sensor from the Model 3 and Model Y EVs. This sensor was used by some of the cars' advanced driver-assistance systems, like adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning, and automatic emergency braking.

Instead, new Teslas built for the North American market rely entirely on cameras. At the time of the removal, Tesla noted that the change meant the cars' forward collision warning and automatic emergency braking functions were no longer rated by the NHTSA but that the company expected that rating to happen "in the coming weeks."

[...] But the problem of phantom braking is not limited to the controversial FSD mode. In early February, The Washington Post reported on a growing number of complaints made to the NHTSA by Tesla owners, who told the agency about situations in which their cars slammed on the brakes at inappropriate times (for example, when driving at highway speed), mistakenly believing an obstacle was ahead.

Original Submission

Booga1 writes:

According to Car and Driver: 830,000 Teslas with Autopilot under NHTSA Investigation, Recall Possible

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will take a deeper look into how Tesla vehicles equipped with so-called Autopilot driver assistance software navigate when interacting with first responder vehicles at the scene of a collision. NHTSA said this week that it is upgrading the Preliminary Evaluation it started last August into an Engineering Analysis, which is the next step in a possible recall of hundreds of thousands of Tesla vehicles.

NHTSA said in its notice that it was motivated to upgrade the status of the investigation because of "an accumulation of crashes in which Tesla vehicles, operating with Autopilot engaged, struck stationary in-road or roadside first responder vehicles tending to pre-existing collision scenes."

[...]

In a public update on its probe, NHTSA laid out its case for why Autopilot needs to be investigated. NHTSA said it has so far investigated 16 crashes and found that Autopilot only aborted its own vehicle control, on average, "less than one second prior to the first impact" even though video of these events proved that the driver should have been made aware of a potential incident an average of eight seconds before impact. NHTSA found most of the drivers had their hands on the wheel (as Autopilot requires) but that the vehicles did not alert drivers to take evasive action in time.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Feds open criminal investigation into Tesla Autopilot claims:

Tesla's controversial Autopilot driver assist might have just gotten even more controversial. According to Reuters, the company has been under federal criminal investigation since 2021 for misleading people about Autopilot's capabilities. It's the latest in a string of state and federal investigations, coming at a time when the automaker is removing more sensors from the cars while increasing the price of its "full self-driving" (FSD) feature.

The safety of Tesla's electric vehicles has been repeatedly extolled by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who claimed his EVs are the safest cars on sale. However, those claims have been challenged by regulators such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as well as by collated crash data.

Now, Reuters reports that "Justice Department prosecutors in Washington and San Francisco are examining whether Tesla misled consumers, investors and regulators by making unsupported claims about its driver assistance technology's capabilities," the sources said.

Although Tesla's website states that Autopilot requires active supervision and is not autonomous, it also features a video that claims, "The person in the driver's seat is only there for legal reasons. He is not doing anything. The car is driving itself," and Musk has repeatedly been interviewed from the driver's seat of a Tesla hands-free.

Whether the Department of Justice's investigation will result in criminal prosecutions is unknown.

Original Submission

Motor Trend and probably many other sources report on the recall of all Teslas with FSD, https://www.motortrend.com/news/tesla-admits-full-self-driving-crashes-recalls-360000-cars/

On February 15, 2023, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) posted a notice that Tesla will recall 362,758 of its Model S, Model X, Model 3, and Model Y vehicles—the entirety of its current lineup—from model years ranging between 2016 and 2023, and equipped with the Full Self-Driving Beta software suite. This driver assistance software, which is technically in beta, has been under investigation for years. NHTSA and Tesla have determined that the system "allows a vehicle to exceed speed limits or travel through intersections in an unlawful or unpredictable manner [that] increases the risk of a crash."

At the bottom there is a link to a Tweet by Elon:

Definitely. The word "recall" for an over-the-air software update is anachronistic and just flat wrong!

I remember at least one Soylentil commenting about turning off over-the-air updates from Tesla because they remove features. For the same reason the same owner never took their car to Tesla for service because of the likelihood of updates being applied against their wishes. Not sure if this applies in that case?

Original Submission