Tesla discovered that it “unexpectedly” activated AEB (automatic emergency braking). The company adopted a curious choice of words when it concluded that “the risk of a rear-end collision from a following vehicle may increase.” “May” seems like a euphemism.
The “reports of false FCW and AEB events from customers” emerged on October 24, 2021, the same day Musk tweeted about the FSD 10.3 rollback. Tesla engineers discovered in the evening on that same day that the problem was caused by “a software communication disconnect between the two onboard chips.”
In the chronology, Tesla said that it took measures to mitigate the risk, which were “canceling 2021.36.5.2 on vehicles that had not installed it, disabling FCW and AEB on affected vehicles, and/or reverting software to the nearest available version.” The bold is ours.
Many Tesla owners complained about that, such as Kevin Smith: you can see his tweet below. Mahmood Hikmet made a thread on Twitter explaining why that was “all shades of problematic.” He compared it to an automaker disabling your airbags without telling you and said thousands of vehicles must have gone through that. Tesla revealed the number of affected vehicles in the Part 573 Safety Recall Report: 11,704 units, 100% of which presented the defect. That is also the first official number we have of cars that use FSD.
Although some may get the impression that the EV maker did everything as it should, it took all these corrective measures before warning NHTSA about them. According to the chronology, “an OTA recall determination was voluntarily made” on October 26. That was after the recall had already been performed. The information about the recall appears on the safety agency page dated October 29. We learned about it on November 2, days after the recall.
It goes further than that: to push its FSD Beta software tests on untrained customers, Tesla deactivated FCW (front collision warning) and AEB – two helpful safety aids – without telling its customers it did that. Let that sink in. Phantom braking is an old complain from Tesla owners: is it also a "software communication disconnect?" On top of everything, Elon Musk said that’s expected from beta software, which shows he probably had to be persuaded to treat the defect as a recall.
Press members complain about Tesla not having a PR department. That would make it one of the least transparent automakers around. After seeing how Tesla handled this entire situation, the media’s concerns about transparency are nothing to worry about compared to how it deals with its customers.
Dear @elonmusk, are you in there crossing the streams? I didn’t change this brah. This isn’t ok without any communication. Communication is not hard. I’m doing it now. Please advise. @tesla pic.twitter.com/dVpFSTbc0b
— Kevin Smith (@spleck) October 25, 2021
Once rolled back, the latest update TURNED OFF AEB AND FCW without consent or notice.
— Mahmood Hikmet (@MoodyHikmet) October 25, 2021
This is equivalent to a vehicle manufacturer turning off airbags without telling you.
It is that serious. And it may have happened on thousands of vehicles. pic.twitter.com/On0GA8RvB3
"There have been no FSD crashes" will be true ... right up until the fatality when it is no longer true.
— Philip Koopman (@PhilKoopman) October 31, 2021
Does anyone not remember Uber ATG test operations making the same argument right up until they killed a pedestrian? @NHTSAgov
h/t @samabuelsamid https://t.co/BCfwNaV4gE