April 14, 2018
Tesla Was Kicked Off Fatal Crash Probe by NTSB 0
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Electric-car maker disputes description of call with agency
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Company drawing criticism for statements on fatal accident
The National Transportation Safety Board told Tesla Inc. on Wednesday that the carmaker was being removed from the investigation of a fatal accident, prior to the company announcing it had withdrawn from it, according to a person familiar with the discussion.
NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt relayed the decision in a call to Tesla’s Elon Musk that was described as tense by the person because the chief executive officer was unhappy with the safety board’s action. NTSB is expected to make a formal announcement in a release later Thursday, said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The unusual move followed public statements by the company blaming the driver of a Tesla Model X who died in a March collision, in apparent violation of agency protocols. The NTSB guards the integrity of its investigations closely, demanding that participants adhere to rules about what information they can release and their expected cooperation. These so-called parties to investigations must sign legal agreements laying out their responsibilities.
Tesla shares were down 1.3 percent to $297.07 at 12:58 p.m. in New York after falling by as much as 2.4 percent following Bloomberg’s report.
Tesla, in a statement issued Wednesday, suggested it chose to leave the probe.
Earlier: Tesla Withdraws From NTSB Crash Probe Over Autopilot Data Flap
"Tesla withdrew from the party agreement with the NTSB because it requires that we not release information about Autopilot to the public, a requirement which we believe fundamentally affects public safety negatively," the company said in an emailed statement. "We believe in transparency, so an agreement that prevents public release of information for over a year is unacceptable."
On Thursday, the company issued a statement saying "the characterization of the call as relayed to Bloomberg is false."
While relations between the highest levels of the company and the agency are now frosty, the NTSB believes staffers at the two entities will continue cooperating, the person said. Tesla said that although it won’t be a formal party to the probe, it will continue to provide technical assistance to the NTSB.
Companies that no longer have formal status as a party to an NTSB investigation can lose access to information uncovered in the probe and the ability to shape the official record of the incident, said Peter Goelz, a former managing director at the NTSB who is now senior vice president at O’Neill & Associates, a Washington lobbying and public relations firm.
Won’t Hinder
"By removing yourself from the process, you’re really taking yourself out of play in a critical element of the investigation," he said. "It will by no means stop the investigation, and it will by no means hinder the investigation."
The dispute between the safety agency and carmaker stems from statements the company made regarding Walter Huang, a 38-year-old who died last month in his Model X using the driver-assistance system known as Autopilot.
In a March 30 blog post, Tesla said that the Model X driver’s hands weren’t on the steering wheel for six seconds prior to the fatal crash. An NTSB spokesman said the agency was "unhappy" with the company for disclosing details during the investigation.
Musk and Sumwalt spoke by phone over the weekend and had what an agency spokesman said at the time was a constructive conversation. Musk promised to follow NTSB rules barring the company from commenting on the investigation.
Related: Tesla Draws Rebuke for Blaming Autopilot Death on Model X Driver
But this week, Tesla responded to a local television appearance by Huang’s family saying the "only" explanation for the crash was that he "was not paying attention to the road, despite the car providing multiple warnings to do so."
The company’s statements violated agency protocol for parties to an accident investigation by alleging the cause of the crash, Goelz said.
Goelz said Tesla’s statement that it was withdrawing from the so-called party agreement was likely a preemptive move to get ahead of the NTSB announcing that the agency was giving Tesla the boot.
"The NTSB is a trusted investigatory agency. Their processes can be challenging and frustrating but they are ultimately fair," Goelz said by phone. "Mr. Musk and his company, and frankly the future of autonomous vehicles, would have been better served had they followed the rules and continued to participate fully in the investigation."
Companies or others who lose formal status as a party to an NTSB investigation can lose access to certain information uncovered in the probe and the ability to shape the official record of the incident, Goelz said.
Prior Ejections
The action to remove the company from the probe was limited to the most recent fatal accident. Tesla is still a formal participant in the NTSB’s investigation of a January crash involving a Tesla Model S that was using Autopilot when it rear-ended a fire truck parked on a freeway near Los Angeles, according to the person.
The stakes for Tesla’s bid to defend Autopilot are significant. The NTSB’s investigation of the March 23 crash involving Huang contributed to a major selloff in the company’s shares. Musk claimed almost 18 months ago that the system will eventually render Tesla vehicles capable of full self-driving, and much of the value of the $50 billion company is linked to views that it could be an autonomous-car pioneer.
The safety board has in some cases thrown airlines, aircraft manufacturers and unions off of investigations in cases where they were either making unauthorized statements or not producing information the NTSB expected of them.
Small Agency
Because it’s a relatively small agency with a limited numbers of employees, the NTSB relies heavily on these parties to assist its investigations. The safety board has subpoena power that it’s used in rare instances to compel companies involved in investigations to provide information.
NTSB rules don’t in fact prohibit participants in investigations from releasing general information about their products. The agency’s oft-repeated rule of thumb is that factual information that could have been released before an accident can be put out afterward as well.
What the NTSB prohibits is the release of information related to the accident itself.
In December 2010, the safety board removed American Airlines, now part of American Airlines Group Inc., from an investigation into a runway accident in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. American had taken one of the plane’s two crash-proof recorders and downloaded its contents prior to turning the device over to the agency.
In 2014, it kicked United Parcel Service Inc. and its pilots’ union off of a probe into a cargo-jet crash that killed two people in Alabama. The safety board said then that the company and union "took actions prejudicial to the investigation by issuing comments and analyzing findings before the NTSB had met to determine a cause."
"If one party disseminates information about the accident, it may reflect that party’s bias," then acting chairman of the NTSB Christopher Hart said at the time. "This puts the other parties at a disadvantage and makes them less willing to engage in the process, which can undercut the entire investigation."
April 18, 2018
A Timeline of the Tesla Autopilot Crash Investigation 0
by MeDaryl • Cars • Tags: apple inc, business, california, Elon Reeve Musk, family, hyperdrive, Mountain View, NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAF, National Transportation Safety Board, Robert L Sumwalt, TESLA INC, TWITTER INC
March 23: Walter Huang, a 38-year-old Apple Inc. engineer, dies after his Model X crashes into highway barrier in Mountain View, California.
March 27: The NTSB sends two investigators to the crash scene and notes on Twitter: “Unclear if automated control system was active at time of crash.”
March 27: Tesla releases its first blog post, “What We Know About Last Week's Accident,” saying it hasn’t been able to retrieve computer logs from Huang’s vehicle and blames the damaged highway safety barrier for the severity of the crash. Tesla also claims the U.S. government found a year ago that Autopilot reduced crash rates by 40 percent, a characterization of data from a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report that some safety experts call misleading. “Out of respect for the privacy of our customer and his family, we do not plan to share any additional details until we conclude the investigation,” Tesla writes.
March 30: Tesla releases a second blog post late on Friday night that acknowledges its driver-assistance software, Autopilot, had been engaged at the time of the crash. “The driver had received several visual and one audible hands-on warning earlier in the drive and the driver’s hands were not detected on the wheel for six seconds prior to the collision,” Tesla writes.
April 1: An NTSB spokesman tells reporters that the agency is “unhappy with the release of investigative information by Tesla.” The agency’s protocols require companies who are a party to an agency accident investigation to not release details about the incident to the public without NTSB's approval.
April 2: Tesla CEO Elon Musk discusses the investigation on Twitter:
April 9: NTSB discloses agency Chairman Robert Sumwalt spoke to Musk over the preceding weekend. An agency spokesman said Sumwalt described the conversation as “very constructive.”
April 10: Tesla puts out a statement that faults Mr. Huang and denies moral or legal liability for the crash.
April 11: Tesla says it has withdrawn from its party agreement with the NTSB: “We believe in transparency, so an agreement that prevents public release of information for over a year is unacceptable.”
April 12: NTSB releases a statement saying it had removed Tesla as a party to its crash investigation. “The NTSB took this action because Tesla violated the party agreement by releasing investigative information before it was vetted and confirmed by the NTSB.” The agency also releases a letter from its chairman to Musk.
April 12: Tesla releases another statement, again claiming to have withdrawn from its agreement with the NTSB.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-04-12/a-timeline-of-the-tesla-autopilot-crash-investigation