NTSB to hold hearing on fatal Ford BlueCruise crashes

On the Dash:

• Federal regulators continue to closely examine advanced driver assistance systems, including hands-free features such as BlueCruise.
• Ongoing investigations could lead to new safety recommendations or regulatory changes affecting automated driving features.
• Dealer teams may encounter more customer questions about BlueCruise’s limits and must be ready to explain driver roles and safety precautions as investigations continue.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will hold a hearing March 31 to determine the probable cause of the crashes, both of which involved 2022 Ford Mustang Mach-E vehicles operating in the system’s partial automation mode.

Both incidents were rear-end collisions in which the Ford SUVs struck stationary vehicles at highway speeds, occurring in San Antonio and Philadelphia in 2024.

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In the San Antonio crash, a Ford on Interstate 10 struck a stationary 1999 Honda CR-V, killing the Honda driver. In Philadelphia, a Ford on Interstate 95 struck two stationary vehicles, causing them to collide with a passing Toyota Corolla; the drivers of a Prius and an Elantra were killed.

Meanwhile, investigators said that in both crashes, “no driver-applied or system-initiated braking or steering was recorded in the moments before impact.”

Since 2025, both the NTSB and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) have been investigating BlueCruise to evaluate system limitations and drivers’ response capabilities. In January 2025, NHTSA upgraded its probe to an engineering analysis.

According to the automaker, BlueCruise operates on 97% of U.S. and Canadian highways without intersections or traffic signals and is installed in 2.5 million vehicles, with more than 500 million highway miles driven across 17 countries.

Nevertheless, the NTSB has also investigated other advanced driver assistance systems, including Tesla’s Autopilot, which led to a recall of 2 million vehicles in December 2023 for new safeguards. The upcoming hearing could result in safety recommendations to prevent similar crashes in the future.