Tesla’s ‘ASS’ Is Safe As Feds End Probe Into Remote Control Feature
- Tesla’s ASS feature is in the clear after the NHTSA ended its probe into the remote control feature.
- The agency opened a probe into the Actual Smart Summon feature, which allows owners to remotely control their car at low speeds from a smartphone.
- The NHTSA said it had received reports of approximately 100 crashes, but no injuries or fatalities.
Tesla’s cheekily-named ASS feature is off the hook after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ended the probe it opened in early 2025. ASS, which stands for Actual Smart Summon, allows owners to control their Tesla EVs at low speeds from a distance without anyone sitting inside the vehicle.
The NHTSA opened the probe after it received reports of about 100 crashes that happened while using the feature, but the agency has now concluded that the severity and frequency of the reported crashes are low.
“Almost all those incidents took place where, typically early in a Summon session, the system or person using the app failed to fully detect or respond appropriately to vehicle surroundings, resulting in minor impacts,” the NHTSA said.
Per the probe, out of millions of Summon sessions, just 1% resulted in an incident. Most of these involved hitting parked cars, garage doors, or gates. No injuries, fatalities, airbag deployments, or vehicles that needed towing were reported, and the NHTSA found that all incidents happened at low speeds.
Tesla originally released a feature called Smart Summon back in 2019, which used the vehicles’ ultrasonic sensors to detect objects and automatically stop for obstacles and people. However, it didn’t last long, as it was found to be glitchy and not very reliable.
Then, in September 2024, Tesla released a newly designed feature called Actual Smart Summon, which uses the vehicles’ cameras, as new Tesla EVs don’t have ultrasonic sensors anymore. The feature allows owners to ‘Summon’ their cars in parking lots, allowing them to wait at a store entrance while the vehicle makes its way to them. The car can also be summoned to a specific location on the map.
In both use cases, the car will move only if the owner presses a virtual button on the Tesla smartphone app.
