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DETROIT — Two fatal crashes involving Ford’s Blue Cruise partially automated driving system have drawn the attention of U.S. auto safety regulators.

DETROIT— The U.S. government’s auto safety agency is investigating whether last year’s recall of Tesla’s Autopilot driving system did enough to make sure drivers pay attention to the road.

Tesla Inc. recalled 3,878 Cybertruck pickups to rework or replace accelerator pedals that can dislodge and cause the vehicle to unintentionally accelerate, increasing risk of a crash.

DETROIT — NHTSA has opened an investigation into a Ford recall for gas leaks from cracked fuel injectors that can cause engine fires, saying in documents that the remedy doesn’t fix the leaks.

A total of 40,990 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes on U.S. roadways in 2023, a 3.6% decline over the 42,514 highway deaths the prior year, according to estimates from NHTSA.

States have until May 1 to apply for up to $350 million in grants from NHTSA to upgrade and standardize their crash data systems to enable full electronic information sharing with the agency.

Outgoing NHTSA Administrator Ann Carlson discussed issues surrounding changing technologies, including Tesla's Autopilot, Cruise robotaxis and ARC Automotive's air bag inflators.

Carmakers like General Motors and Ford are lobbying against an extraordinary push by U.S. regulators to force a recall of as many as 52 million air bag inflators.

Tesla’s recall of more than 2 million of its vehicles — an effort to have drivers who use Autopilot pay closer attention to the road — relies on tech that research shows may not work as intended.

U.S. auto safety regulators say they have taken the first step toward requiring devices in vehicles that prevent drunken or impaired driving.