Innovative U.S. automaker Tesla is shutting down its Passenger Play game feature over concerns drivers can be distracted by the games screen.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said a Tesla software update will disable the feature while vehicles are moving.
The NHTSA had just announced an investigation into the entertainment system the day before. It said the feature was “visible on the front center touchscreen from the driver’s seat, is enabled even when the vehicle is being driven. This functionality … may distract the driver and increase the risk of a crash.”
Prior to a year ago, the feds said, the system was only available when the vehicle was in park. The Washington Post reported that the federal probe of the entertainment system would continue. The systems are in about 580,000 Tesla models S, X, Y and 3 from 2017 through 2022.
“The Vehicle Safety Act prohibits manufacturers from selling vehicles with defects posing unreasonable risks to safety, including technologies that distract drivers from driving safely,” the regulator’s statement said.
The vehicle dashboard game system has a warning reading, “Playing while the car is in motion is only for passengers.” It asks players to verify they are passengers, although there is nothing to prevent a driver from playing Solitaire or the jet fighter and conquest games.
NHTSA’s 2013 guidelines say infotainment devices should be designed “so that they cannot be used by the driver to perform inherently distracting secondary tasks while driving.”
Mercedes-Benz recently issued a minor recall over driver access to its vehicle infotainment system.
Tesla’s autopilot system is under investigation as well, after a series of well-publicized crashes.
The NHTSA announcement listed one complaint over the entertainment systems, but no crashes.
Tesla did not immediately comment.
