Washington DC CNN —The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Monday it has opened an investigation into a recent Ford Mustang Mach-E fatal crash in San Antonio, Texas, where authorities suspect an advanced driver assistance system was in use.
Driver assistance features are being hailed by automakers as a way to reduce accidents, but federal safety regulators are concerned that over-reliance on the features by drivers could be causing some accidents.
While NHTSA has opened more than three dozen Tesla special crash investigations since 2016 where advanced driver assistance systems such as Autopilot were suspected of being used with 20 crash deaths reported, this is NHTSA’s first special crash probe involving a Ford advanced system.
NHTSA typically opens more than 100 special crash investigations annually into emerging technologies and other potential auto safety issues.
In addition to the NHTSA probe, on Friday, the National Transportation Safety Board opened a separate investigation into the Feb. 24 crash.
Persons:
Jeffrey Allen Johnson, Austin, Ford, “, CNN’s Chris Isidore
Organizations:
Washington DC CNN, Traffic Safety Administration, Ford, NHTSA, National Transportation Safety, NTSB, San, Honda
Locations:
San Antonio , Texas, San Antonio