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.
“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.