The US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced that the 2026 Tesla Model Y is the first vehicle to meet the agency’s new benchmark for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). The benchmark is part of recently added pass/fail evaluations in NHTSA’s New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), which are intended to provide consumers with more information about the safety performance of driver-assistance technologies. You can see the latest NHTSA data on the Model Y here.
“Today’s announcement marks a significant step forward in our efforts to provide consumers with the most comprehensive safety ratings ever,” said NHTSA administrator Jonathan Morrison. “By successfully passing these new tests, the 2026 Tesla Model Y demonstrates the lifesaving potential of driver assistance technologies and sets a high bar for the industry. We hope to see many more manufacturers develop vehicles that can meet these requirements.”
The 2026 Tesla Model Y vehicles manufactured on or after November 12, 2025, successfully met the rigorous criteria for four newly integrated advanced safety tests: pedestrian automatic emergency braking, lane-keeping assistance, blind-spot warning and blind-spot intervention.
New Car Assessment Program’s new benchmarking includes several emerging safety technologies and vehicle safety features designed to help protect people both inside and outside a vehicle.
One addition is four advanced driver-assistance technologies aimed at improving crash-avoidance safety: pedestrian automatic emergency braking, lane keeping assist, blind spot warning, and blind spot intervention.
The program has also updated and strengthened testing procedures and performance criteria for advanced driver-assistance technologies already included in the program, such as automatic emergency braking.
A new crashworthiness pedestrian protection program has been introduced to assess how effectively a vehicle’s front end can reduce pedestrian injuries and fatalities in vehicle-to-pedestrian collisions.
The update also includes mid-term and long-term roadmaps to support future changes driven by ongoing research and advances in vehicle safety, including crash-avoidance and crashworthiness improvements aimed at better protecting bicyclists and motorcyclists, as well as an updated rating system.
NCAP is NHTSA’s flagship consumer information program for evaluating vehicle safety. The program evaluates how well vehicles perform in various crash tests, including rollover risk, and provides an objective rating on a five-star scale to help consumers make an informed decision when buying a vehicle. For more on the NCAP program, please visit NHTSA.gov/Ratings.