Tesla has recalled nearly every vehicle sold across its model lineup in the United States, citing a potentially deadly defect in its Autopilot system.
According to documents published by government regulators on Wednesday, more than two million Teslas are not equipped with sufficient safety measures to ensure that drivers are paying attention while the partially automated system is active.
The recall follows a two-year investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which found that Tesla’s driver-assist features contributed to as many as 956 car accidents, several of them fatal.
Despite its name, the Autopilot system does not allow the vehicle to operate autonomously. The basic Autopilot package shipped with all Tesla models features automatic steering, acceleration, and braking, but requires the driver to keep their hands on the steering wheel in case of emergencies.
However, according to the recall report published by the NHTSA on Wednesday, the monitoring systems in 2,031,220 Teslas “may not be sufficient to prevent driver misuse.” As reported by the Associated Press, independent tests have confirmed that the monitoring system is easily manipulated, letting drivers activate it while drunk or even while sitting in the back seat.
The recall affects Tesla Models S, X, 3, and Y produced between Oct. 5, 2012, and Dec. 7, 2023.
Read the recall document from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration HERE.
To correct the problem, Tesla will send out a free over-the-air software update to limit when the Autosteer function can be used.
“If the driver attempts to engage Autosteer when conditions are not met for engagement, the feature will alert the driver it is unavailable through visual and audible alerts, and Autosteer will not engage,” the recall documents said. The update will also include a means by which Autosteer can be completely suspended “if the driver repeatedly fails to demonstrate continuous and sustained driving responsibility.”
Select models were scheduled to receive the update on Tuesday, with the remainder to be updated in the coming weeks.
However, the timing of the recall announcement has struck many as suspicious given its proximity to the release of the Netflix original film “Leave the World Behind.”
In this post-apocalyptic psychological thriller — which stars Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, and Ethan Hawke and was executive produced by Barack and Michelle Obama — two families fight to survive as modern technology breaks down amid cyberattacks, civil war, and a political coup.
One particularly noteworthy scene features a highway filled with of haywire Teslas crashing into each other, narrowly missing the protagonists as their Autopilot systems malfunction.
While the NHTSA investigation into Tesla has been ongoing for several years, the film sparked a new wave of skepticism of the Autopilot program less than a week before the recall was announced publicly. The film’s release also came right before authorities reported a foreign cyberattack against critical American infrastructure on Tuesday, followed by a similar probe against the United Kingdom on Wednesday.
Some have seen this as nothing more than an odd coincidence — but others are calling it “predictive programming.”
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