The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it is “unhappy” that Tesla released information about a March 23rd crash that killed a driver, the Washington Post reported Sunday.
The driver was on a busy stretch of Highway 101 when his Model X drifted out of its lane and crashed into a concrete rail. Tesla published a blog post last week on the crash, saying that Autopilot was in use when the accident occurred.
But, it seems the NTSB didn’t appreciate Tesla commenting on the specifics of the accident during an active investigation.
“In each of our investigations involving a Tesla vehicle, Tesla has been extremely cooperative on assisting with the vehicle data,” an agency spokesman told the Washington Post. “However, the NTSB is unhappy with the release of investigative information by Tesla.”
Tesla’s blog post didn’t offer any explanation as to why the car drifted out of its lane, but suggested that the driver ignored warnings to grab the wheel. “The driver had received several visual and one audible hands-on warning earlier in the drive and the driver’s hands were not detected on the wheel for six seconds prior to the collision,” the company said in the post.
The NTSB said not to expect further comment until the completion of a preliminary report, which generally occurs within a few weeks of completion of field work, the Washington Post reported.
Update (2:50 p.m. ET): In response to a tweet from TMC linking to this story, Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk defended the automaker’s decision to release information about the crash.
“Lot of respect for NTSB, but NHTSA regulates cars, not NTSB, which is an advisory body,” Musk tweeted. “Tesla releases critical crash data affecting public safety immediately & always will. To do otherwise would be unsafe.”
“NHTSA” refers to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Transportation with a stated mission to “save lives, prevent injuries and reduce economic costs due to road traffic crashes, through education, research, safety standards and enforcement activity.”
Photo: NBC Bay Area
The driver was on a busy stretch of Highway 101 when his Model X drifted out of its lane and crashed into a concrete rail. Tesla published a blog post last week on the crash, saying that Autopilot was in use when the accident occurred.
But, it seems the NTSB didn’t appreciate Tesla commenting on the specifics of the accident during an active investigation.
“In each of our investigations involving a Tesla vehicle, Tesla has been extremely cooperative on assisting with the vehicle data,” an agency spokesman told the Washington Post. “However, the NTSB is unhappy with the release of investigative information by Tesla.”
Tesla’s blog post didn’t offer any explanation as to why the car drifted out of its lane, but suggested that the driver ignored warnings to grab the wheel. “The driver had received several visual and one audible hands-on warning earlier in the drive and the driver’s hands were not detected on the wheel for six seconds prior to the collision,” the company said in the post.
The NTSB said not to expect further comment until the completion of a preliminary report, which generally occurs within a few weeks of completion of field work, the Washington Post reported.
Update (2:50 p.m. ET): In response to a tweet from TMC linking to this story, Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk defended the automaker’s decision to release information about the crash.
“Lot of respect for NTSB, but NHTSA regulates cars, not NTSB, which is an advisory body,” Musk tweeted. “Tesla releases critical crash data affecting public safety immediately & always will. To do otherwise would be unsafe.”
“NHTSA” refers to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Transportation with a stated mission to “save lives, prevent injuries and reduce economic costs due to road traffic crashes, through education, research, safety standards and enforcement activity.”
Photo: NBC Bay Area
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