After a large-scale recall of Tesla electric vehicles in the United States, the Dutch Motor Vehicle Authority RDW said that Europe does not plan to recall Tesla vehicles.
The Dutch RDW, which oversees Tesla's safety approvals in Europe, cited the differences between self-driving features in the European and U.S. markets and said it was in contact with Tesla.
After the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) raised safety concerns, Tesla requested a recall of about 2 million vehicles in the U.S. for software updates to install new protections due to risks associated with Autopilot software.
This is Tesla's largest vehicle recall in history, covering almost all Tesla electric vehicles in use on U.S. roads. The reason for this is that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's findings show that drivers don't always pay enough attention to the road when the system's automatic steering function is turned on, which can increase the likelihood of a crash.
Tesla is classified as the second of five levels of "partial driving automation" in both the U.S. and Europe, with the fifth level being fully self-driving.
An RDW spokesperson said Tesla's tests in Europe followed United Nations standards, not American standards. Other differences between European and U.S. rules include how driver monitoring is implemented and warnings to drivers when systems are abused, the spokesperson said.