US safety regulators are turning up the heat on Tesla, announcing investigations into steering wheels coming off some SUVs and a fatal crash involving a Tesla suspected of using an automated driving system when it ran into a parked fire engine in California.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it is launching a special crash-investigation team to probe the February 18 crash involving a Tesla Model S and a ladder truck from the Contra Costa County fire department.
The fire engine probe is part of a larger investigation by the agency into multiple instances of Teslas using the autopilot system crashing into parked emergency vehicles that are tending to other crashes.
NHTSA has become more aggressive in pursuing safety problems with Teslas in the past year, announcing multiple recalls and investigations.
The driver of the 2014 Tesla Model S was killed in the crash and a passenger critically injured. Four firefighters were treated for minor injuries, and the 1.4 million dollar ladder truck was damaged.
NHTSA is investigating how the autopilot system detects and responds to emergency vehicles parked on highways. At least 14 Teslas have crashed into emergency vehicles nationwide while using the system.
Automated driving systems are not always involved in the crashes that NHTSA sends investigators to.
For instance, the Ohio State Highway Patrol determined that a Tesla that hit one of its patrol cars in November was “not being operated in any type of autonomous mode” at the time of the crash.
Authorities said the California fire engine had its lights on and was parked diagonally on a highway to protect responders to an earlier accident that did not result in injuries.
NHTSA has been scrutinising Teslas more intensely in the past year, seeking several recalls and opening investigations.
Earlier on Wednesday, the agency posted documents revealing that it is investigating steering wheels that can detach from the steering column on as many as 120,000 Model Y SUVs.
The agency said it received two complaints in which 2023 Model Ys were delivered to customers with a missing bolt that holds the wheel to the steering column. A friction fit held the steering wheels on, but they separated when force was exerted while the SUVs were being driven.
The agency says in documents posted on its website on Wednesday that both incidents happened while the SUVs had low mileage on them.
In one complaint filed with NHTSA, an owner said he was driving with his family on Route 1 in Woodbridge, New Jersey, when the steering wheel suddenly came off on January 29, five days after the vehicle was purchased.
The owner wrote that there were no cars behind him, and he was able to pull toward the road divider. There were no injuries.
It was a “horrible experience,” the car’s owner, Prerak Patel, told The Associated Press. He said he was in the freeway’s left lane when the steering wheel came off and was lucky the road was straight and he was able to stop the car at the divider.
Messages were left seeking comment from Tesla, which is based in Austin, Texas, and has disbanded its media relations department.
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