A Tesla Is Involved in a Fatal Crash

A Tesla driver was pronounced dead at the scene of a crash. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has asked the EV maker for information.

This is news that Elon Musk does not like. 

The Tesla chief knows that it will occupy the headlines and fuel more criticism from his detractors.

On Feb. 18 near Walnut Creek, Calif., a Tesla car slammed into a fire truck. The firefighters were on I-680, attending to a previous accident. 

The Tesla driver was pronounced dead at the scene, while a Tesla passenger and four firefighters were taken to the hospital. Walnut Creek is half an hour northeast of San Francisco.

Open questions include whether the company's self-driving system -- Autopilot/Full Self-Driving or FSD -- was activated at the time of the crash.

"Slow down and move over when approaching emergency vehicles," the Contra Costa County Fire Department said in a tweet. "Truck 1 was struck by a Tesla while blocking I-680 lanes from a previous accident. Driver pronounced dead on-scene; passenger was extricated & transported to hospital. Four firefighters also transported for evaluation."

NHTSA Wants More Information

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has contacted the carmaker for more information about the crash, a source close to the matter told TheStreet.

NHTSA declined to comment.

The federal agency for several months has been investigating how Tesla's driver-assistance system (Autopilot/FSD) behaves at accident scenes where emergency services have intervened. They often park their vehicles in the middle of the road. 

The regulator had started these investigations after numerous accidents involving collisions between Tesla cars and first-responding trucks and cars. The questions include: Was the self-driving system activated and, if so, why was it struggling to function properly in these situations? Why couldn't it detect that an emergency vehicle was blocking the way?

In September 2021 after certain crashes, Tesla rolled out an over-the-air software update to its cars without doing a recall.

In a 2019 study looking at how driver-assistance systems perform, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety concluded that the radars and cameras used to detect possible obstacles were able to track moving cars but had difficulty with parked vehicles. 

Vehicles equipped with radars, sensors and cameras can easily follow a vehicle in the same lane and adjust their speed to maintain the necessary safe distance. But a police car, an ambulance or a fire truck blocking the way with its flashing lights was a big challenge.

Crash Occurred a Few Days After a Recall

The latest fatal crash involving Tesla comes just days after the electric vehicle maker was forced to recall more than 360,000 cars due to risks associated with its self-driving software.

he NHTSA said the FSD system might allow Tesla cars to "act unsafe" around intersections and respond "insufficiently" to changes in posted speed limits. 

"The feature could potentially infringe upon local traffic laws or customs while executing certain driving maneuvers," the federal agency said said in a statement. ""The system may respond insufficiently to changes in posted speed limits or not adequately account for the driver's adjustment of the vehicle's speed to exceed posted speed limits." 

Tesla will issued a software-based over-the-air recall, the company said.

Musk didn't like the recall terminology because he felt there was no need to bring cars back for the cure.

"Definitely. The word 'recall' for an over-the-air software update is anachronistic and just flat wrong!" the CEO tweeted that day.