List of Tesla Autopilot crashes

[7] Initially, Yaning was held responsible for the collision by local traffic police and, in September 2016, his family filed a lawsuit in July against the Tesla dealer who sold the car.

According to the NHTSA, preliminary reports indicate the crash occurred when the tractor-trailer made a left turn in front of the 2015 Tesla Model S at an intersection on a non-controlled access highway, and the car failed to apply the brakes.

[13][14][15] The Tesla was eastbound in the rightmost lane of US 27, and the westbound tractor-trailer was turning left at the intersection with NE 140th Court, approximately 1 mi (1.6 km) west of Williston; the posted speed limit is 65 mph (105 km/h).

[17]: 7, 12 The NHTSA's preliminary evaluation was opened to examine the design and performance of any automated driving systems in use at the time of the crash, which involves a population of an estimated 25,000 Model S cars.

Following the crash, Tesla modified its Autopilot firmware to add a preferred road usage constraint, which affects the timing of the hands-off driving alert.

"[36] In a corporate blog post, Tesla noted the impact attenuator separating the offramp from US 101 had been previously crushed and not replaced prior to the Model X crash on March 23.

In addition, no driver-applied steering wheel torque was detected for 7.7 seconds before impact, indicating driver disengagement, likely due to overreliance on the Autopilot system."

[69][70][71] Emergency medical personnel saw a woman's shoe under the Tahoe, prompting a search for the second victim, who was found approximately 25 yd (23 m) away from the scene, where she had been thrown from the impact.

[96] After being notified that some straps on his trailer had come loose, on May 29, 2020, at approximately 11:00 a.m., a solo truck driver parked a tractor-trailer on the hard shoulder of northbound E18, 181 m (594 ft) northeast of the Torsbuås tunnel exit, just outside Arendal.

[100] On September 17, 2020, at approximately 5:24 a.m. EDT, the driver of a 2020 Tesla Model 3 crashed into an occupied CobbLinc bus shelter, demolishing it and killing the man waiting inside.

The victim had parked his vehicle on the left shoulder of the westbound Long Island Expressway (I-495), just east of the College Point Boulevard exit in Flushing, Queens, New York, to change a flat tire.

[113][106]: Report ID 13781-21 In the evening of May 16, 2022, the driver of a Tesla Model 3 left Upper Bear Creek Road in Evergreen, Colorado and collided with a tree.

The surviving passenger recalled the driver had engaged FSD on the trip to the golf course, but was forced to make many manual steering corrections on the winding road.

The lead CSP investigator determined from the tire markings left at the scene the driver never used the brakes and the motors continued to power the wheels after impact, concluding that since "the vehicle drove off the road with no evidence of a sudden maneuver, that fits with the [driver-assistance] feature being engaged".

[117] At 10:51 p.m. PDT on May 17, 2022, a pedestrian walking on southbound I-5 near Crown Valley Parkway in Mission Viejo, California was struck and killed by a driver operating a Tesla Model 3.

[119] A spokesperson for the Florida Highway Patrol noted "[The vehicle] came off the exit ramp to the rest area, continued south for a short period, and turned into an easterly direction and that's at what time we had the collision where the Tesla struck the rear of the tractor-trailer.

[106]: Report ID 13781-3332 A motorcycle rider was struck from behind by a driver using Autopilot in a Tesla Model 3 on southbound Interstate 15 near 15000 S in Draper, Utah, at 1:09 a.m. MDT on July 24, 2022.

[127][106]: Report ID 13781-3488 Michael Brooks, the acting executive director of the Center for Auto Safety commented "It's pretty clear to me, and it should be to a lot of Tesla owners by now, this stuff isn't working properly and it's not going to live up to the expectations, and it is putting innocent people in danger on the roads ...

[106]: Report ID 13781-3713 There have been multiple fatal collisions in the United States during 2022 in which a Tesla operating with Autopilot struck a motorcycle from the rear; in each instance, the motorcyclist was killed.

[134] The driver of a 2014 Tesla Model S was killed after the vehicle he was driving crashed into a Contra Costa County fire truck parked across several lanes of northbound I-680 south of the Treat Boulevard offramp in Walnut Creek, California, at 4 a.m. on February 18, 2023.

[166] On January 22, 2018, a 2014 Tesla Model S crashed into a fire truck parked on the side of the I-405 freeway in Culver City, California, while traveling at a speed exceeding 50 mph (80 km/h) and the driver survived with no injuries.

[168] According to a post-accident interview, the driver stated he was drinking coffee, eating a bagel, and maintaining contact with the steering wheel while resting his hand on his knee.

Because Autopilot requires agreement between the radar and visual cameras to initiate AEB, the system was challenged due to the specific scenario (where a lead vehicle detours around a stationary object) and the limited time available after the forward collision warning.

[169]: 12–13 In the evening of May 11, 2018, a 2016 Tesla Model S with Autopilot engaged crashed into the rear of a fire truck that was stopped in the southbound lane at a red light in South Jordan, Utah, at the intersection of SR-154 and SR-151.

[181] Tesla CEO Elon Musk criticized news coverage of the South Jordan crash, tweeting that "a Tesla crash resulting in a broken ankle is front page news and the ~40,000 people who died in US auto accidents alone in [the] past year get almost no coverage", additionally pointing out that "[a]n impact at that speed usually results in severe injury or death", but later conceding that Autopilot "certainly needs to be better & we work to improve it every day".

[179] In September 2018, the driver of the Tesla sued the manufacturer, alleging the safety features designed to "ensure the vehicle would stop on its own in the event of an obstacle being present in the path ... failed to engage as advertised.

[183] According to the driver, the vehicle was traveling at the speed limit of 100 km/h (62 mph) with Autopilot activated; he also claimed his hands were on the wheel, but was not paying attention at the time of the crash.

[196] On March 22, 2022 at approximately 6:30 a.m., the driver of a Tesla Model 3 struck a woman boarding a city-bound tram on Wattletree Road in Armadale, an inner suburb of Melbourne in the Australian state of Victoria.

[199] The driver pleaded not guilty to four charges in April 2023, including dangerous driving causing serious injury, and was ordered to stand trial after the magistrate heard testimony from five witnesses.

[106]: Report ID 13781–4293 The driver of a 2021 Tesla Model S told the California Highway Patrol that while driving eastbound on "Full Self-Driving" mode in the Yerba Buena Tunnel portion of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge near Treasure Island, at approximately noon on November 24, 2022,[205] the vehicle cut across several lanes of traffic to the far left lane and abruptly slowed from 55 to 20 mph (89 to 32 km/h), causing a chain-reaction collision involving eight vehicles.