Vince Patton, a new Tesla owner, demonstrates on Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021, on a closed course in Portland, Ore., how he can play video games on the vehicle’s console while driving. Patton, of Portland, Ore., filed a complaint with federal regulators after discovering the feature in his new car. (AP Photo/Gillian Flaccus)
DETROIT | Last August, Vince Patton was watching a YouTube video of a Tesla owner who had made a startling observation: Tesla drivers could now play a video game on their car’s touch-screen dashboard — while the vehicle is moving.
Curious to see for himself, Patton drove his own 2021 Tesla Model 3 to an empty community college parking lot, activated a game called “Sky Force Reloaded” from a menu and did a few loops.
“I was just dumbfounded that, yes, sure enough, this sophisticated video game came up,” said Patton, a 59-year-old retired broadcast journalist who lives near Portland, Oregon.
He tried Solitaire, too, and was able to activate that game while driving. Later, he found he could browse the internet while his car was moving.
Patton, who loves his car and says he has nothing against Tesla, worries that drivers will play games and become dangerously distracted.
“Somebody’s going to get killed,” he said. “It’s absolutely insane.”
Which is why early last month, Patton decided to file a complaint with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the government’s road safety agency.
“NHTSA needs to prohibit all live video in the front seat and all live interactive web browsing while the car is in motion,” Patton wrote in his complaint. “Creating a dangerous distraction for the driver is recklessly negligent.”
On Wednesday, NHTSA confirmed that it’s looking into the matter. News of Patton’s complaint was first reported Tuesday by The New York Times.
“We are aware of driver concerns and are discussing the feature with the manufacturer,” a NHTSA spokeswoman wrote in an email. “The Vehicle Safety Act prohibits manufacturers from selling vehicles with design defects posing unreasonable risks to safety.”
The spokeswoman declined to provide further details of its conversations with Tesla. The agency has not opened a formal investigation, which would involve requests for documents and other detailed information. Tesla, which has disbanded its media relations department, did not respond to messages from The Associated Press.
NHTSA’s inquiry marks the latest in a growing list of possible infractions involving advanced auto technology that are being reviewed by two federal agencies as potential safety risks.
The government is looking into Tesla’s Autopilot partially …….