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Tesla is recalling more than 362,000 cars equipped with its Full Self-Driving driver-assistance system after government regulators found it increased the risk of accidents.
The company’s technology, which can steer, accelerate, brake and change lanes on its own, allows vehicles to travel above legal speed limits and through intersections in “an unlawful or unpredictable manner,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Thursday in documents posted on its website.
Testing and analysis by the safety agency showed that a component of the system that steers car on city streets could create “an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety based on insufficient adherence to traffic safety laws.” The agency said Tesla was not aware of any deaths or injuries caused by the flaws the agency had identified.
The safety agency noted that the recall addressed only one set of concerns it has with Full Self-Driving and that it was continuing to investigate the system and less advanced technology that Tesla calls Autopilot.
Despite their names, neither system can drive cars on their own and Tesla tells owners of its cars to be prepared to take control of the car at any moment while using the system. It also instructs them to keep their hands on the steering wheel and eyes on the road.
Tesla agreed to the recall and planned to fix the flaws through an over-the-air update to the affected vehicles, which includes all four models it sells, according to a letter posted on the agency’s website. The automaker intends to notify owners of the recalled vehicles by mail no later than April 15.
The safety agency said that Tesla did not agree with the regulators’ analysis but that the company had agreed to a voluntary recall “out of an abundance of caution.”
The agency is looking into 41 crashes since 2016 involving Tesla vehicles that were using the company’s advanced driver-assistance systems, including 14 that left a total of 19 people dead.
