Federal regulators are reportedly ramping up investigations into two deadly Tesla crashes in Florida last week, and recalls and fines are possible.
, which they say could lead people to think the cars can fully drive themselves when they actually cannot.
"The dangers of the limitations of these systems are not clearly explained to owners," Dr. Shaun Kildare, director of research Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, told INSIDER."People are overestimating their capabilities and part of that is due to the sales pitch."He added that Tesla's engineers share much of the blame. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The new inquiries come two years after the NTSB said the design limitations of the Autopilot system played a major role in the 2016 crash that killed Tesla driver Joshua Brown, 40, in Florida. The agency said the Model S cameras and radar couldn't detect a vehicle turning into the car's path. While Tesla had told drivers that Autopilot should only be used on limited-access highways like interstates, drivers were still able to turn on Autopilot on other kinds of roads."If the vehicle was being driven through its Autopilot system, this would appear to be identical" to the crash that killed Brown, Kildare said.
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