Tesla will recall more than two million vehicles over concerns its Autopilot system can be misused by drivers, amid a two-year probe by U.S. auto-safety regulators into crashes involving the driver-assistance technology.
The recall covers some Tesla Models 3, S, X and Y sold in the U.S. between 2012 and 2023, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday.
Tesla’s Autopilot system may not have sufficient controls in place to prevent driver misuse, it said. There is an increased risk of a crash when Autopilot is engaged and a driver doesn’t maintain control of the vehicle or is unprepared to intervene, the NHTSA said. The agency said as part of its investigation it had reviewed 956 crashes where Autopilot was said to have been used.
The company will offer owners a free software update. Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Tesla shares fell about 1.5% in morning trading.
In 2021, regulators opened an investigation into Tesla’s driver-assistance system after a series of crashes.
A driver was killed while using Tesla’s Autopilot system when his vehicle crashed with a tractor trailer in Virginia in July, a spokesman for Fauquier County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday. The driver of the tractor was charged with reckless driving, but charges were dropped after an investigation showed the Tesla was traveling at approximately 70 miles an hour through a 45 mph zone, he added.
A Wall Street Journal analysis of dashcam footage and data from a crash in Texas in 2021 shows Tesla’s Autopilot system failed to recognize stopped emergency vehicles.
The electric-car maker has long maintained that driving with Autopilot engaged is safer than doing so without it. In a post to X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday, Tesla pointed to internal data showing that crashes were less common when drivers were using Autopilot.
The recall covers Tesla Model S vehicles manufactured between 2012 and 2023, Model X vehicles manufactured between 2016 and 2023, Model 3 vehicles manufactured between 2017 and 2023, and Model Y vehicles manufactured between 2020 and 2023.
The company’s Autopilot system is among the most well-known advanced driver-assistance systems and comes standard on new Teslas. The technology helps drivers with tasks such as steering and maintaining a safe distance from other vehicles on the highway, but doesn’t make cars autonomous.
Last year, the Journal reported that federal prosecutors and securities regulators were investigating whether Tesla had misled consumers and investors about how its advanced driver-assistance system performed.
The Justice Department is looking at statements that Tesla and its executives made about the safety and functionality of the system known as Autopilot, according to a person familiar with the matter. The Securities and Exchange Commission is conducting a similar civil investigation, people familiar with the matter said.
Tesla tells drivers using Autopilot to pay attention to the road and to keep their hands on the wheel, but the company’s public messaging has at times appeared inconsistent with that guidance. Some, including the California DMV, have said the language Tesla uses to describe its technology risks giving drivers an outsize impression of its capabilities.