Tesla’s Actually Smart Summon Feature Investigated Due to Crashes
Beginning its life as Summon in 2014, then Smart Summon in 2019 and Actually Smart Summon in 2022 before rolling out in 2024 officially, the summon feature for Teslas is not a new thing.
The way Actually Smart Smart works is, it should call your Tesla to you at a press of a button. While brilliant in concept, the actual execution has come off as little more than a parlour trick rather than an essential feature.
It has a range of 65 meters and you’d think a short distance such as that would be no problem for the venerable EV, but… reality is often disappointing.
According to Reuters, the US has opened a probe into 2.6 million Teslas over the feature with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reporting that,
“The vehicles failed to detect posts, or parked vehicles, when they were operating on Actually Smart Summon, NHTSA said, adding it had reports where users “had too little reaction time to avoid a crash, either with the available line of sight or releasing the phone app button, which stops the vehicle’s movement”
The feature only rolled out in September 2024, but are already facing investigations with at least 15 other incidents of accidents reported by media.
We’ve reported previously about Teslas having the highest fatality rate in America, and the many half-truths that have been said by its deified founder and the A-S-S feature may be joining that long list of failed promises.
Interestingly, the A-S-S feature is also half assed in Malaysia. Perhaps realising the condition of our roads and the laissez-faire attitude Malaysians have to road laws, the A-S-S function in Malaysia is limited to only 6 meters.
AND you need to pay RM16,000 just for less than half the feature. We don’t know how Tesla apologists continue to vouch for the brand, but from our vantage point, these features are a load of donkey.
