2024 Tesla Model S

The office of defects investigation (odi) is opening a recall query to assess the remedy adequacy of recall 23v838. on december 12, 2023, tesla filed a defect information report (recall 23v838) applicable to all tesla models produced and equipped with any version of its autopilot system, which tesla described as an sae level 2 (l2) advanced driver assistance system (adas). autopilot is the simultaneous engagement of tesla’s traffic-aware cruise control (tacc) and autosteer. in describing the safety defect, tesla’s defect information report (dir) explained that “the prominence and scope of the system’s controls may be insufficient to prevent driver misuse,” and tesla committed to the deployment of a multipart remedy aimed at improving system and engagement controls and reducing mode confusion. ea22002 (upgraded from pe21020) was opened to investigate whether tesla’s autopilot contained a defect that created an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety and involved extensive crash analysis, human factors analysis, vehicle evaluations, and assessment of vehicle control authority and driver engagement technologies. the work conducted in these investigations aligns with tesla’s conclusion in its 23v838 recall filing. during ea22002, odi identified at least 13 crashes involving one or more fatalities and many more involving serious injuries in which foreseeable driver misuse of the system played an apparent role. tesla filed recall 23v838 to address concerns regarding the autopilot system investigated in ea22002. following deployment of the remedy in recall 23v838, odi identified concerns due to post-remedy crash events and results from preliminary nhtsa tests of remedied vehicles. also, tesla has stated that a portion of the remedy both requires the owner to opt in and allows a driver to readily reverse it. tesla has also deployed non-remedy updates to address issues that appear related to odi’s concerns under ea22002. this investigation will consider why these updates were not a part of the recall or otherwise determined to remedy a defect that poses an unreasonable safety risk. odi is therefore opening this recall query investigation to further evaluate the adequacy of the remedy for recall 23v838.

Smart summon and actually smart summon are features on certain tesla vehicles that allow a user to remotely move the vehicle to the user or to another designated location, through use of a phone app. the office of defects investigation (odi) has received 1 complaint (voq) alleging that an actually smart summon session resulted in a crash and has reviewed at least 3 media reports of apparently similar crashes. all four incidents involve the subject tesla vehicles operating in actually smart summon failing to detect posts or parked vehicles, resulting in a crash. actually smart summon replaced smart summon and provided users with extended vehicle operating range while expanding vehicle connectivity through phone app live camera feeds and increased user latency experience. odi has received 12 smart summon related voqs alleging crash typology similar to the crashes experienced by users of actually smart summon during sessions with little time for operators to react. odi is aware of multiple crash allegations, involving both smart summon and actually smart summon, where the user had too little reaction time to avoid a crash, either with the available line of sight or releasing the phone app button, which stops the vehicle’s movement. tesla has not reported any smart summon or actually smart summon crashes through the standing general order for crashes involving ads or level 2 adas, which requires reporting of crashes on publicly accessible roads. odi is opening this preliminary evaluation to investigate actually smart summon’s capabilities as they relate to the subject and similar crashes, including the system's operation and field performance in fsd equipped vehicles and vehicles included in free trial offers. nhtsa will evaluate the top speed that a vehicle can attain while actually smart summon is engaged, designed-in operating restrictions for usage on public roads, and line of sight requirements. nhtsa expects this preliminary evaluation to include review of remote vehicle control through the phone app at various distances and lines of sight, including app connectivity delays resulting in increased stopping distance and the ability to utilize actually smart summon in roadway environments or operating conditions for which the current version of the system is neither intended nor designed. to review the odi reports cited in the opening resume odi report identification number document, go to nhtsa.gov.

The office of defects investigation (odi) has identified four standing general order (sgo) reports in which a tesla vehicle experienced a crash after entering an area of reduced roadway visibility conditions with fsd -beta or fsd -supervised (collectively, fsd) engaged. in these crashes, the reduced roadway visibility arose from conditions such as sun glare, fog, or airborne dust. in one of the crashes, the tesla vehicle fatally struck a pedestrian. one additional crash in these conditions involved a reported injury. the four sgo crash reports are listed at the end of this summary by sgo number. odi has opened a preliminary evaluation of fsd (a system labeled by tesla as a partial driving automation system),which is optionally available in the model year (my) 2016-2024 models s and x, 2017-2024 model 3, 2020-2024 model y, and 2023-2024 cybertruck. this preliminary evaluation is opened to assess: -the ability of fsd’s engineering controls to detect and respond appropriately to reduced roadway visibility conditions; -whether any other similar fsd crashes have occurred in reduced roadway visibility conditions and, if so, the contributing circumstances for those crashes; and -any updates or modifications from tesla to the fsd system that may affect the performance of fsd in reduced roadway visibility conditions. in particular, this review will assess the timing, purpose, and capabilities of any such updates, as well as tesla’s assessment of their safety impact. sgo report numbers: 13781-8004, 13781-7181, 13781-7381, 13781-7767. to review the sgo reports prompting this investigation, go to nhtsa.gov.