Tesla’s rollout of a prominent safety feature in its vehicles has made Consumer Reports reconsider a recent drop in scores for the American automaker.
Tesla has restored Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) in a number of its Model S and Model X vehicles built after October 19 of last year, all of which were supposed to feature the technology as standard. Tesla first told CR that the updated technology would be added by the end of 2016, but when that deadline passed, a timeline was not offered by Tesla.
On April 21, 2017, CR removed points from both the Model S and Model X, dropping the S from the top spot on CR’s ultra-luxury list. Just five days later, Tesla began sending over-the-air updates to owners that would enable AEB.
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Before restoring Tesla’s rating points, CR made sure that all owners had received their software update. That puts the Model S back on top of the ultra-luxury car listings at CR, while the Model X still sits near the bottom of the luxury midsize sport-utility category.
The only caveat is that the updated AEB systems are still only working up to 28 mph, not the 90 mph that earlier versions of Tesla’s AEB work at. Tesla has promised that the system will eventually work at highway speeds, but the company hasn’t offered a timeline and didn’t respond to CR’s request for comment on when that will be.
[Source: Consumer Reports]
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