Yahoo Autos NHTSA investigates Tesla that failed to stop for school bus, struck teen
DETROIT — U.S. road safety regulators have sent a team to investigate a crash involving a Tesla that may have been operating on a partially automated driving system when it struck a student who had just exited a school bus.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Friday that it will probe the March 15 crash in Halifax County, North Carolina, that injured a 17-year-old student. The State Highway Patrol said the driver of the 2022 Tesla Model Y, a 51-year-old male, failed to stop for the bus, which was displaying all of its activated warning devices.
Sending special investigation teams to crashes means that the agency suspects the Teslas were operating systems that can handle some aspects of driving, including Autopilot and “Full Self-Driving.” Despite the names, Tesla says these are driver-assist systems and that drivers must be ready to intervene at all times.
A message was left Friday seeking comment from Tesla.
Tillman Mitchell, a student at the Haliwa-Saponi Tribal School in Hollister, had just exited the bus and was walking across the street to his house when he was hit, according to the Highway Patrol.
He was flown to a hospital with life-threatening injuries but was listed in good condition two days after the crash.
“I’ve been saying probably for a couple of years now, they need to figure out why these vehicles aren’t recognizing flashing lights, for a big starter. NHTSA needs to step in and get them to do a recall because that’s a serious safety issue.”
Messages left with the North Carolina State Highway Patrol were not immediately returned. A spokesperson for WakeMed hospital in Raleigh did not immediately provide an update on the student’s condition or indicate whether he had been discharged.
NHTSA has sent investigative teams to more than 30 crashes since 2016 in which Teslas suspected of operating on Autopilot or “Full Self-Driving” have struck pedestrians, motorcyclists, semi trailers and parked emergency vehicles. At least 14 people were killed in the crashes.
In March the agency sent a team to a Feb. 18 crash in which a Tesla Model S hit a fire department ladder truck in Contra Costa County, California. The Tesla driver was killed, a passenger was seriously hurt, and four firefighters suffered minor injuries.
