The autopilot, a form of advanced cruise control that has come
under scrutiny after two crashes this year, was not engaged when
the Model S car drove off the road and hit a concrete wall,
catching fire, the company said, although it added that it had
not yet seen logs from the crash.
"We have not yet been able to retrieve the logs from the
vehicle, but everything we have seen thus far indicates a very
high-speed collision and that autopilot was not engaged," a
Tesla spokesperson said.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board has said it will
investigate the latest accident involving a Tesla - the agency's
fourth active probe into crashes of the company's electric
vehicles.
While admitting that serious high-speed collisions can result in
a fire, the Tesla spokesperson defended the car's safety record
saying a gas car in the United States is five times more likely
to catch fire than a Tesla vehicle.
In the event of an accident, eight airbags protect front and
rear occupants, and the battery system automatically disconnects
from the main power source, Tesla has said previously in
promotional materials for the car.
"Should the worst happen, there is no safer car to be in than
Model S," the company said in a brochure for the 2014 Model S.
(Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru; editing by Patrick
Graham)
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