NHTSA wants more info from Honda in probe of 1.7M vehicles for alleged unintended braking

Honda has until Aug. 12 to respond, or it could face civil penalties of up to about $122 million.

In a assertion to Automotive Information, Honda spokesman Chris Martin reiterated that the automaker is aware of the investigation and committed to protection.

“Honda will cooperate with the NHTSA by means of the investigation method, and we will continue our have internal review of the available data,” Martin reported.

In addition, NHTSA wishes to know of any issues or lawsuits connected to the alleged defect as effectively as experiences involving a crash, injuries or dying. It also desires to know how quite a few cars are outfitted with the AEB technique and any recognized procedure performance dissimilarities among the cars protected in the data request.

Much more especially, NHTSA would like to know at which speeds each individual of the systems’ sensors can bring about a braking occasion, how Honda’s Sensing and AcuraWatch sophisticated driver-aid systems interact with other driver-support attributes and any known environmental things these as time of working day, glare from the sunshine, weather or other road objects that could impact the system’s functionality.

NHTSA’s data ask for arrives as the agency prepares to situation a proposal to call for AEB, together with pedestrian detection, on all new gentle-responsibility cars and set minimal performance requirements, as mandated in the infrastructure law handed by Congress last 12 months.

This month, NHTSA stated it has received reviews of just about 400 crashes involving driver-help methods and 130 crashes involving fully automated cars since it started demanding automakers, suppliers and tech companies to disclose the info final June.

Tesla Inc. and Honda documented the most ADAS crashes to the company — 273 and 90, respectively — according to the data, which is limited and lacks context essential for comparison.

The company, also in February, opened an investigation into selected Tesla Product 3 and Model Y motor vehicles equipped with Autopilot alleging “phantom braking” following acquiring 354 grievances.

NHTSA this thirty day period explained the quantity of stories of unforeseen brake activation in individuals motor vehicles experienced improved to 758.