NHTSA launches probe into second Tesla Autopilot accident [UPDATE]

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is going to take a second look. The
Tesla Model X crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike last week has led to another NHTSA investigation. The issue, as you can probably guess by this point, is the Autopilot software and whether or not it was turned on at the time of the crash.

Reuters
is reporting that the NHTSA issued a statement today saying that it is talking to the driver (who survived, along with the passenger), the police involved, and Tesla. Tesla’s first statement on the matter was this:

We have no data to suggest that Autopilot was engaged at the time of the incident. Anytime there is a significant accident, Tesla receives a crash detection alert. As is our practice with all collisions, we immediately reached out to the customer to make sure he was safe. Until the customer responds, we are unable to further investigate.

The NHTSA is also looking at
a fatal crash involving Autopilot that happened in May.

UPDATE: A Tesla spokesperson sent AutoblogGreen
a second statement on the matter:

Tesla received a message from the car on July 1st indicating a crash event, but logs were never transmitted. We have no data at this point to indicate that Autopilot was engaged or not engaged. This is consistent with the nature of the damage reported in the press, which can cause the antenna to fail.
As we do with all crash events, we immediately reached out to the customer to confirm they were ok and offer support, but were unable to reach him. We have since attempted to contact the customer three times by phone without success. It is not possible to learn more without access to the vehicle’s onboard logs.

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