2026 Tesla Model Y First Vehicle to Pass NHTSA’s New Advanced Driver Assistance Benchmark

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the 2026 Tesla Model Y is the first vehicle to meet the agency’s new benchmark for advanced driver assistance systems. NHTSA announced on Tuesday that later-release 2026 Model Y vehicles passed the four pass-fail tests, which assess automatic emergency braking for pedestrians, blind-spot warning, blind-spot intervention and lane assist.

The new benchmark rating applies only to 2026 Tesla Model Y vehicles assembled on or after November 12, 2025.

The tests were approved by NHTSA in November 2024 and are effective for the 2026 model year. They form part of an update to the agency’s New Car Assessment Program, or NCAP. The four advanced driver assistance criteria were added in 2024 as part of that NCAP update.

Congress required the tests. NCAP runs the government’s 5-Star safety rating program and conducts evaluations for frontal and side crashes, rollover resistance and crash avoidance. NHTSA previously added electronic stability control, forward collision warning and lane departure warning to the program in 2011.

The agency added rear visibility systems in 2013. Automatic emergency braking was incorporated in 2015 for model-year 2018 vehicles. In September, the Trump administration delayed changes in the NCAP program by one year after automakers sought more time.

The new pass/fail tests are separate from NHTSA’s mandatory auto safety standards. Automakers covet five-star safety ratings that many new car buyers consider when making purchase decisions. NHTSA separately maintains a number of investigations into Tesla, including a probe into its Full Self-Driving driver-assistance system over concerns the system may fail to detect or warn drivers in poor visibility.

Traffic deaths rose sharply after the COVID-19 pandemic, with pedestrian deaths hitting their highest level since 1981 in 2022. U.S. traffic deaths last year fell to the lowest number since 2019.