US upgrades probe into 129,000 Ford automobiles over hands-free tech

(Reuters) -The U.S. Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration mentioned on Monday it’s upgrading a probe into 129,222 Ford Motor (NYSE:F) automobiles over stories of collisions involving the corporate’s hands-free driving know-how, BlueCruise.

The NHTSA opened the investigation after receiving notices of two deadly collisions final April, involving BlueCruise-equipped Ford Mustang Mach-E automobiles.

The regulator mentioned it’s upgrading the probe to an engineering evaluation, protecting automobiles between the 2021-2024 mannequin years.

Engineering evaluation is a required step earlier than the NHTSA might demand a recall.

The BlueCruise system makes use of a camera-based driver monitoring system to find out driver attentiveness and is used on 97% of U.S. and Canadian highways with no intersections or visitors indicators.

The know-how was launched in mannequin yr 2021 and is at present accessible in a choose vary of Ford and Lincoln automobiles.

In April, the Nationwide Transportation Security Board (NTSB) opened separate investigations into the 2 Mach-E crashes, together with a Feb. 24 crash of a Honda (NYSE:HMC) CR-V in Texas and a March 3 accident in Philadelphia.

Based on the NHTSA, in each deadly collisions, the Ford Mustang Mach-E automobile was touring over 70 mph on a freeway throughout nighttime lighting circumstances on BlueCruise mode when it collided with a stationary automobile.

The company mentioned these automobiles appear to have system limitations regarding the detection of stationary automobiles whereas touring at freeway speeds and in nighttime lighting.

NHTSA mentioned it is going to additional examine these limitations and consider drivers’ capability to answer eventualities that exceed such limitations.

Ford didn’t instantly reply to a Reuters’ request for remark.