Automakers have reported almost 400 crashes in the last ten months involving vehicles with partially automated driver assist systems. Over 270 of these crashes involve Tesla’s according to statistics released by U.S. Safety regulators. As advocates for injured people, these numbers represent a problem that appears to be worsening.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has cautioned against using these raw number to compare different manufacturers. The NHTSA does not weigh the number of cases per manufacturer or the number of actual miles driven. Crashes from last year through May 15, 2022 represent the first time the agency has examined such cases as broadly as they have now. As they gather additional data, they are confident they will be more able to assess emerging risks and trends and determine how they relate to real world operations.
The Tesla crashes happened while using the Full Self Driving (FSD) feature, Traffic Aware Cruse Control or other driver assist features. Tesla has about 800,000 vehicles on the road with these systems. The next closest automaker in crash numbers is Honda with about 90. Honda reports they have about Six Million vehicles on the road with such systems and Subaru reported ten crashes. All other automakers reported five or fewer crashes.
Six people have died in crashes involving driver-assist systems and there were five serious injuries reported. Five of the deaths involved Tesla’s and one was reported by Ford. Three of the serious injuries involved Tesla’s while Honda and Ford each reported one. The current theory is the Tesla numbers are somewhat elevated because they use telematics to monitor their vehicles and they get real time numbers and reliable data. Other companies don’t have such a reporting system so their data is received slower and tends to be less reliable.
We represent people who are injured because of the careless and reckless acts of others. At the end of the day your case can only be settled one time and you need to know all of the facts beforehand. The reason that insurance companies have paid our clients in excess of $130,000,000.00 is that we get the facts and are not intimidated at the prospect of going to trial when insurance companies fail to offer full compensation. A Sacramento car accident attorney can help with serious injuries that require serious representation. We are the Law Offices of Guenard & Bozarth, LLP. Our attorneys have more than 60 years of experience specializing in only representing injured people. Call GB Legal 24/7/365 at 888-809-1075 or contact Guenard & Bozarth online. We would be honored to represent you!
