The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reportedly said today that it will launch a special investigation into a recent Tesla Model Y crash. The accident resulted in the death of a motorcyclist. Since 2016, NHTSA has opened 37 special investigations into crashes involving Tesla vehicles. In these crashes, the owners were suspected of using advanced driver assistance systems such as Autopilot. A total of 18 people died in these Tesla-related investigations, which include the recent fatal California crash.
For this investigation, NHTSA declined to say exactly which collision it was. But according to media reports, a 48-year-old motorcyclist died after colliding with a 2021 Tesla Model Y on July 7 on the Riverside Freeway in California.
In recent weeks, NHTSA has launched three special investigations, one for a crash in Florida that killed a 66-year-old Tesla driver and a 67-year-old passenger. The other targeted a fatal pedestrian crash in California involving a 2018 Tesla Model 3.
In general, NHTSA conducts more than 100 special accident investigations each year into a number of emerging technologies and other potential vehicle safety issues. Investigating these issues can help regulators develop some safety rules.
Tesla has not yet commented on this.
In June, the NHTSA launched an investigation into 830,000 Tesla vehicles, focusing on evaluating the safety of the Autopilot system, which the NHTSA upgraded to an “engineering analysis,” a necessary step before a mandatory recall.
In August, NHTSA launched a preliminary evaluation of the Autopilot system involving 765,000 vehicles due to a collision between a Tesla vehicle and a stationary emergency vehicle.
NHTSA released data in June that 12 car companies reported 367 crashes involving the assisted driving system to it between July 2021 and May 15 of this year. Of those, Tesla accounted for 273.
