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The federal government’s top auto safety regulator is investigating why Tesla didn’t issue a recall last month when it updated the software on its cars to improve their ability to detect stopped emergency vehicles such as police cars and fire trucks.
The regulator, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, has also ordered Tesla to provide data on the Full Self-Driving software that a small group of owners has allowed to test on public roads.
NHTSA opened an official investigation There have been 12 accidents where Tesla cars operating in autopilot mode (a driver assistance system that can steer, brake and accelerate a car on its own) fail to detect stopped emergency vehicles flashing in low light.
In a letter to Tesla on Tuesday, the agency reminded the company that federal law requires automakers to initiate recalls if they find defects that pose a safety risk.
NHTSA told the company to detail a software update shipped in late September that replaces Autopilot and increases its ability to detect emergency lights.
The letter told Tesla whether it intends to issue a recall on the update, and if not, to indicate any legal or technical reason it refused to do so.
“Any manufacturer that releases a wireless update that mitigates a defect that poses an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety is required to submit a timely recall notice,” the agency said in the letter.
The letter was sent to Eddie Gates, Tesla’s director of field quality, by Gregory Magno, chief of the vehicle defects division at NHTSA’s defect investigation office.
NHTSA has also ordered Tesla to provide the number of owners that have been given Full Self-Driving software and copies of all agreements the company has with owners. Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, described Full Self-Driving as a technology that would allow. cars for autonomous driving in most cases. But the software is not capable of driving a car without the active participation of a human driver.
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