Tesla recalls more than 2 million cars sold in the US due to autopilot flaws

Tesla has issued a recall notice affecting over 2 million of its electric vehicles sold in the US between October 2012 and December 2023. The recall includes all Model 3, Model Y and Model X vehicles as well as Model S vehicles equipped with Autosteer.

The recall results from a two year investigation by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) into 16 incidents involving stationary emergency services vehicles and Tesla vehicles that were operating with Autosteer engaged.

These 16 incidents or crashes caused 15 injuries and one fatality, and occurred in various US states including California, Florida, Miami and Texas.

Tesla did not agree with the findings of the NHTSA analysis, but decided to issue a voluntary recall to resolve the ongoing investigation. Available here on the NHTSA site, the recall notice summarises the primary issue as insufficient controls to ensure drivers are paying attention and correctly using Tesla’s Autosteer feature. 

“In certain circumstances when Autosteer is engaged, the prominence and scope of the feature’s controls may not be sufficient to prevent driver misuse of the SAE Level 2 advanced driver-assistance feature.”

Tesla describes their Autopilot system as “an SAE Level 2 driving automation system designed to support and assist the driver in performing the driving task.”

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) defines Level 2 autonomous driving systems as driver support features where the driver is still in control and must constantly supervise these features. Drivers must steer, brake or accelerate as needed to maintain safety.

Several interesting details about the lead up to the incidents described above are found within NHTSA documents related to the investigation. On average, Autopilot aborted control less than 1 second prior to impact. Analysis of video footage from the scenes showed that on average the drivers would have seen the emergency services incident 8 seconds before the first impact. 

However, none of the drivers took evasive action 2-5 seconds before impact, despite vehicle data confirming all drivers had their hands on the steering wheel. This indicates the drivers involved were clearly not paying attention or taking action to maintain safety, even though their Tesla vehicles concluded they were. 

After a fatal 2021 crash involving Autopilot, the US based Consumer Reports organisation akin to CHOICE here in Australia, famously demonstrated how easily Tesla’s driver monitoring system could be defeated. During their testing, Consumer Reports managed to exit the drivers seat while the Tesla Model Y happily kept driving on Autopilot without any warnings.

Drivers of affected Tesla vehicles will not need to visit a service centre to have the fix applied to their cars. A new over-the-air (OTA) software update with version 2023.44.30 has already started rolling out to affected vehicles starting on December 12, 2023. Vehicles manufactured after December 7, 2023 already have the software fix included.

The software fix described in the recall notice mentions additional controls and alerts to encourage drivers to maintain their responsibilities while using Autopilot.

These include keeping their hands on the steering wheel and paying attention to the roadway, increasing the prominence of visual alerts on the user interface, simplifying engagement and disengagement of Autosteer.

There will also be additional checks when engaging Autosteer and using the feature outside controlled access highways where the system is not designed to be used. If the vehicle deems drivers are not compliant with the updated controls, they may be suspended from using the features altogether.

Industry experts and safety advocates say the software fix is still not sufficient to address the root cause of incidents like those that sparked the NHTSA investigation. They say more focus is needed from Tesla improving their Autopilot system to properly detect and avoid potential crash situations.

As for Australian owners, Tesla Australia representatives said there is no immediate impact on our vehicles at this stage and US Autopilot software remains more advanced than what we have in Australia.

Given the software update is designed to improve safety of Tesla vehicles operating on Autopilot, it would make sense for them to eventually roll the changes out globally.