The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday that the later-released 2026 Tesla Model Y is the first vehicle to meet the agency’s new benchmarks for advanced driver assistance systems.
Four pass-fail tests were added to the agency’s safety rating program, assessing the car’s automatic emergency braking for pedestrians, blind spot warning, blind spot intervention and lane assist, a feature that helps keep a vehicle in its lane.
The updated standards are meant to capture the ever-advancing vehicles and the long list of features offered to consumers. Vehicle manufacturers typically brand these features with names that do not always describe what function they perform, and there is often no government-provided benchmark to assess how they perform.
The new benchmark rating applies to 2026 Tesla Model Y vehicles assembled on or after November 12, 2025.
The tests are part of NHTSA’s New Car Assessment Program, which runs the government’s 5-star safety rating program. NCAP also conducts a series of tests to determine how vehicles handle frontal and side crashes as well as rollover resistance and crash avoidance. Four advanced driver assistance criteria were added in 2024 as part of a Update to NCAP Incorporating advanced driver assistance features.
TechCrunch has reached out to NHTSA to find out what other vehicles are in line. We will update the article if the agency responds.
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