Data submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has revealed that two fatal crashes involving Tesla Model 3s fitted with the company’s Level 2 driver-assistance system were reported from September 16 to October 15.
While details about the crashes are limited, we know that both occurred in California. They were reported because the manufacturers of vehicles equipped with advanced driver-assistance technologies must disclose crash data to the NHTSA. During the September 16 to October 15 period, the safety agency received reports of 18 fatal crashes involving vehicles with driver-assistance systems.
Read: 10 More Fatal Accidents Reportedly Linked To Teslas This Year
As part of the NHTSA’s order, car manufacturers and technology companies must report an incident within 24 hours of learning about it. They also need to provide updates by certain time frames. The order applies to both vehicles equipped with Level 2 systems as well as prototypes being used to test more advanced Level 3, Level 4, and Level 5 systems, Auto News reports.
Some 605 crashes involving vehicles with Level 2 systems have been reported since July 2021. Tesla has accounted for 474 of them while Honda is the brand that has reported the second-most with 107 crashes. In addition, a total of 202 crashes involving vehicles with advanced self-driving tech have been reported but none of these have been fatal.
Importantly, this data doesn’t reveal whether the driver of the ADAS system was at fault. The NHTSA also notes that Tesla’s crash data may seem inflated because its crash data can be accessed faster than similar systems from other car manufacturers.
These two fatal crashes involving Tesla Model 3s comes as the NHTSA increases its scrutiny of Tesla models equipped with both its Autopilot driver assistance system and the Full-Self Driving Beta.
