The AP report today suggests a tragic head-on collision in South Lake Tahoe was caused by Tesla engineering defects.

A Tesla Model 3 and Subaru Impreza collided head on during the evening of July 5, according to state police, and the driver of the Subaru died a short time later. Local media reports say that an infant that had been traveling in the Tesla died last week.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been looking into a string of accidents involving Teslas that are believed to have had automated driving technology installed.

[…]

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 used for the technology [they are unable to do what they are called].

I’ve been closely monitoring this case since it was first reported, given its similarity to another recent veered Tesla head-on collision with a Subaru.

If the rise in “Autopilot” crashes are found by investigators to be a repeatable engineering defect… then roads clearly should be treated as unsafe anytime a Tesla is on them.

Reuters puts it like this.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday it is opening a new special crash investigation into a fatal accident in California involving a 2018 Tesla Model 3 where advanced driver assistance systems are suspected of having been used.

Since 2016, NHTSA has opened more than three dozen Tesla special crash investigations in cases where advanced driver assistance systems such as Autopilot were suspected of being used, with 20 crash deaths reported.

[…]

This is the first new special crash investigation open since March.

How many weeks before the next person is killed from Tesla dumping unsafe product at a high rate into public spaces?