NHTSA is investigating whether EVs should be retrofitted with pedestrian warning systems
Teslarati
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating whether hybrid-electric and electric vehicles from 1997 to present should have external speakers installed for pedestrian safety. The investigation was officially opened on January 27th, according to Teslarati.
In 2018, Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 141 passed. This new safety standard required electric vehicles and hybrid-electric vehicles with a weight of 10,000 pounds (4,536 kilograms) or less to have a pedestrian warning system (PWS). A PWS is an external speaker on the vehicle that plays a sound when the vehicle is traveling at low speeds. This ensures pedestrians can hear vehicles if they’re nearby.
EVs and hybrid-electric vehicles can be extremely quiet, especially at low speeds. EVs can go unheard when approaching stop signs, crosswalks, and intersections, especially if there are other environmental sounds as well.
In July 2022, a petition was received by the NHTSA that urged the organization to require all EVs and hybrid-electric vehicles to have external noisemakers installed on them. Any vehicles without them, regardless of their manufacture date, would be considered to have a safety defect, according to the NHTSA’s Office of Defect Investigation.
“The petitioner asserts that hybrid and electric vehicles to which the standard does not apply should be found to contain a safety defect. In support of the petition, the petitioner includes findings contained in a bill introduced in the House of Representatives in 2009, the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, H.R. 734, 111th CONG. (2009).”
The passing of the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2009, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2011, says all vehicles should have a feature for “alerting blind and other pedestrians of the presence and operation of nearby motor vehicles to enable such pedestrians to travel safely and independently in urban, rural, and residential environments.”
Should the NHTSA agree and side with the petitioners, roughly 9.1 million cars across multiple manufacturers would be affected. These include Polestar, Tesla, Toyota, Nissan, BMW, Honda, and more.
Tesla’s Pedestrian Warning System
Tesla started installing their PWS in their vehicles in 2019. This was a mandatory change for Tesla, as both the US and EU passed laws requiring electric vehicles to make some kind of noise due to their quiet sound levels at slower speeds. The noise is played continuously until speeds of 19mph are reached, per the US regulation.
“The Pedestrian Warning System (PWS) is an audible tone played when the vehicle is moving slowly (up to 19 mph) in either Drive or Reverse,” Tesla said at the time in a memo to staff. “The sound is played via a speaker mounted in the front fascia and alerts nearby pedestrians of the car’s presence in low-speed situations.”
Tesla started manufacturing vehicles for this long before the regulations went into effect. Tesla enthusiast and YouTuber DÆrik noticed the speaker grill on the front underside of his 2018 Performance Model 3.
PWS Also Adds Boombox Feature
In classic Tesla and Elon Musk fashion, they went the extra mile and added some playful goodies for owners to get a laugh out of. They called this new feature “Boombox,” which allowed sounds to be played using the vehicle’s external speaker. For example, while in park or drive, the vehicle was able to fart, play music, and any noises the user uploaded.
Unfortunately, the NHTSA thought this was distracting and banned the feature while in drive. It's currently available in most regions around the world while the vehicle is parked.
If NHTSA requires Tesla to retroactively install PWS in their vehicles built before 2019, owners will at least have the Boombox feature to look forward to. During Tesla's 2022 holiday update, Tesla also added the ability to use Emissions Testing Mode through the Tesla app. If your vehicle is equipped with the PWS, then the vehicle will play the farting sound through its external speaker. Otherwise, it will be played through the internal speakers - which isn't quite as much fun
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Tesla’s Safety Score is used to help determine an owner’s insurance premiums under Tesla Insurance. It attempts to evaluate how safely the vehicle is driven by taking into account several metrics such as harsh braking, turning too fast, and speeding.
Tesla has continuously improved its Safety Score program by adding new metrics or improving existing ones. Tesla is notably transparent about the specific factors that contribute to your Safety Score and, by extension, how insurance premiums are calculated.
With the launch of Safety Score V2.2, Tesla has introduced updates to how Excessive Speeding is factored into your score and removed the controversial Forward Collision Warnings (FCW).
While excessive speeding has been part of the scoring system since March 2024, it has primarily contributed to Tesla’s internal calculations for premium generation. The latest version improves how Tesla determines speeding and its weight into the Safety Score.
Improved Excessive Speeding
The latest version of Safety Score now measures Excessive Speeding as a proportion of the time you spend driving over 85 mph, or when you’re speeding relative to the vehicles in front of you.
This could affect how your score is impacted while overtaking slower drivers—we’ll have to wait and see how this plays out for Tesla Insurance users, and whether rates will rise, fall, or stay steady in the coming months.
Forward Collision Warning
Tesla’s Forward Collision Warnings are a helpful feature in Tesla vehicles since they can alert drivers when a vehicle stops suddenly in front of them. However, they can sometimes have false positives, which isn’t a huge deal… unless they’re affecting your insurance premium. While FCWs have been included in Tesla’s Safety Score since its inception, it has often been a controversial metric due to false positives.
With the release of Safety Score v2.2, Tesla has now removed FCWs as part of the Safety Score, and drivers will no longer be penalized when a vehicle stops suddenly in front of them. However, Unsafe Following, an existing Safety Score metric that is defined as “proportion of following time spent at an unsafe following distance,” is still a part of Tesla’s Safety Score.
According to Tesla, this update is designed to offer a more accurate reflection of future collision risk, using insights from over 23 billion miles of real-world driving data. New Safety Scores will begin to reflect these changes as the update rolls out. However, any impact on premiums won’t take effect until next month—so your current premium is safe for now.
It’s worth noting that in California, Safety Score doesn’t affect your insurance rate at all. In those cases, Tesla includes it strictly for educational purposes. But in states where it does apply, it will directly influence what you pay.
Due to constant improvements involving real-world data and billions of miles, Tesla’s Safety Score is a unique and fairly accurate way of assessing safe driving. Unlike traditional insurers—some of which rely on basic smartphone acceleration data—Tesla is able to calculate your score based on nuanced, vehicle-level data and real-time driving conditions. While it isn’t perfect, it gives a clear edge in measuring how you actually drive.
We’re still hoping to see Tesla Insurance expand to more states. Progress has slowed recently, even after the company brought on a former GEICO executive whose main mission is to broaden the program’s reach.
Tesla has just opened up their Early Access Program, which we found out about just a few days ago - to FSD owners and subscribers in the United States. This new Early Access Program will offer regular owners the ability to get early FSD updates before they get widely released.
Tesla has begun to slowly roll out a pop-up (and button) in the Tesla app, offering users the ability to enroll in the FSD (Supervised) Early Access Program in the United States. This update is rolling out slowly, so don’t be surprised if you don’t have it yet.
For now, this program appears to be limited to the United States. Users in Canada and Mexico, even those with existing Early Access, have not yet received an invite to the program.
Once you join the Early Access Program, at the very bottom of your app, where your VIN and software version normally appear, you’ll see a new “Early Access” link. Tapping this will show your status as a member of the Early Access program and also offers you the opportunity to leave the program if so desired.
The bottom Early Access Button
Sawyer Merritt
How to Get In?
To be offered the program, you must own an AI4/Hardware 4 vehicle with FSD, either purchased or actively subscribed. Unfortunately, HW3 owners are not receiving this right now.
A pop-up will be displayed in your Tesla app once you get selected to join the program. If you dismiss the pop-up in a hurry, don’t worry. The ability to join Early Access stays as in the image below, and you can join the program at any time.
Ending your subscription while part of Early Access means your vehicle will be removed from the program.
The post pop-up opportunity.
Sawyer Merritt
Privacy
In exchange for receiving early builds of FSD, Tesla will increase the amount of data, video, and audio gathered from your vehicle, and the data will be VIN-associated, meaning less privacy and anonymity for users.
Any software updates or release notes you receive, both in-vehicle and in-app, will be watermarked with your vehicle's VIN. Tesla has been watermarking employee release notes since June of 2024 to reduce leaks, and this new Early Access program appears to follow a similar format, even though it is more widespread.
A watermarked release note.
@BrianX2023 on X
Cautions
Of course, earlier FSD builds are usually less stable and potentially less safe than wide release, so it’s important to remain more vigilant during FSD’s use. If anyone else uses the vehicle, make sure they’re also aware of the situation.
On the flip side, this is really exciting for many Tesla owners. Tesla’s Early Access program has normally been limited to employees and influencers, so it’s awesome to see regular owners getting an opportunity to get in on all the fun of testing out Tesla’s latest FSD functionality.
This new Early Access program could also mean that Tesla has a new level of confidence in future builds, where it’s now willing to make them available to more users. It could also have to do with Tesla’s FSD Unsupervised ambitions, where they may need more data than was already collected in order to successfully launch their Robotaxi this June.
