The San Francisco Chronicle reported on Friday that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is looking into the Tesla Cybertruck crash in town that killed three college students and severely injured a fourth on Wednesday when the vehicle slammed into a tree and retaining wall and burst into flames.
“NHTSA is aware of the crash and is gathering information from the manufacturer and law enforcement,” the agency said in a statement.
The federal agency investigates crashes involving electric vehicles with self-driving features — the Cybertruck is one such vehicle, although officials have not said whether the vehicle’s driver assistance features were engaged at the time of the fatal crash.
According to the Chronicle’s reporting, the incident is the second known fatal crash in the U.S. in which a Cybertruck veered off the road and burst into flames for unknown reasons.
Tesla issued its sixth recall this year for the Cybertruck after it found more than 2,400 of the electric trucks may have a defect that could cause them to lose drive power, increasing the risk of crashes, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in mid-November. (Tesla Issues Sixth Cybertruck Recall This Year, New York Times, Nov. 13, 2024)
In a press conference Wednesday, Piedmont Police Chief Jeremy Bowers said speed was likely a contributing factor in the crash. But the cause of this accident remains under investigation and the the California Highway Patrol now has the Cybertruck in its possession to investigate for possible mechanical failure, according to Piedmont police.