A Tesla crashed and burned last April in Houston, Texas, and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released the latest update on the case.
Two men were inside the vehicle at the crash, and neither was found in the driver’s seat. Texas authorities initially said that no one was driving the car at that time. However, NTSB investigation reveals, the driver was behind the wheel at the time of the crash.
Details Of Latest Findings Released
NBC News reported that on Thursday, the NTSB released the latest update on the case that took place on April 17 on a residential road in Spring, Texas, near Houston. The first responders said they found one man in the back seat and the other in the front passenger seat, thus believing that no one was driving the car at the time of the crash.
However, after the investigation by the NTSB, they determined that both the driver and the passenger were in the front seats with their belts buckled. Further, NTSB noted that the Tesla was traveling up to 67 mph in the five seconds before it crashed and that the driver was accelerating. This data was extracted from the data recorder, and NTSB noted that the accelerator was even pressed as high as 98.8 percent.
Also, NTSB said that the crash damaged the Tesla Model S’s high-voltage lithium-ion battery case. This is what started the fire.
No Information If Automate Driver-Assist System Was Running
As the investigation continued, NTSB said they had not determined yet if Tesla’s Autopilot partially automated driver-assist system was running at the time of the crash. NTSB has yet to determine if the two people inside the vehicle had any trouble getting out of the car. They will make such determinations once the report is finalized.
However, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on Twitter in April that the data logs they recovered showed the Autopilot was not turned on and “Full Self-Driving” was not purchased for the vehicle.
