Elon Musk’s Tesla Faces Fresh Investigation After ‘Autopilot’ Tied to Two More Fatal Crashes

The National Highway Safety Traffic Administration (NHTSA) is investigating two more fatal crashes involving Tesla’s electric car last month.

Drive reports that since July 2021, the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration (NHTSA) has required car manufacturers with vehicles featuring “Level Two” advanced driver assistance systems to report crashes involving the technology within 24 hours of the incident occurring, followed by a subsequent updated report up to nine days later. Two Tesla Model 3 electric cars were involved in separate crashes resulting in fatalities between September 16 and October 15.

Across the 30-day period, the NHTSA recorded 18 fatal crashes in the U.S. involving cars fitted with driver assistance systems. The two Tesla incidents accounted for more than 10 percent of the data over the period. These two incidents are reportedly being investigated by federal authorities.

Level Two advanced driver assistance systems include functions such as adaptive cruise control and lane-keeping assistance, but drivers are required to remain in control at all times. Tesla’s notorious Autopilot has already been under investigation based on many crashes involving the system to some degree.

From July 2021 to June 2022, the NHTSA recorded 392 crashes in which the vehicles were equipped with advanced driver assistance systems across 12 different car brands. Tesla vehicles accounted for 273 — or 70 percent — of those accidents. Of the six fatalities where driver assistance systems were a factor, Tesla vehicles accounted for 83 percent of the crashes.

It was recently reported that in 2021 the US Department of Justice launched a criminal investigation into Tesla following over a dozen motor vehicle accidents involving the automaker’s cars.

In June, Breitbart News reported that the NHTSA escalated its probe into Telsa’s Autopilot function. The NHTSA first launched its investigation into 765,000 Tesla cars ten months ago following 11 cases of Tesla cars colliding with first-responder vehicles.

The NHTSA said that it was widening the scope of the investigation into the effectiveness of Tesla’s driver assistance system. The agency is now reviewing information from 830,000 Tesla cars and 200 new cases of crashes involving Tesla cars utilizing the Autopilot function.

Read more at Drive here.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan