{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0801","record_version":1,"title":"Tesla driver-assistance system engaged in fatal Route 55 median crash, Vineland NJ (Aug 2026)","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":64.8,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":20.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":6.0,"completeness":4.48,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"Only a republished copy: Yahoo · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":3,"reports_independent":0,"reports_derivative":1,"developing":true,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-01","history":[{"date":"2026-11-01","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"Only a republished copy: Yahoo · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"b815d32dde8501ea5fd672262cb70ecd20901354ec3082f2c52b727ac150253d"},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"Tesla","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"supervised-auto","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":"consumer driver assistance","safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":"2026-08-22","date_disclosed":"2026-10-15","incident_class":"other","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"third_party","summary":"A 2021 Tesla Model Y crossed a grass median on Route 55 near Vineland, New Jersey, on August 22, 2026, struck a tree, and collided head-on with a Chevrolet SUV, killing its driver, Phillip “Phil” Eastman, 68. Tesla’s filing with NHTSA marks the driver-assistance system as “Verified Engaged” during the reporting window. The filing does not establish whether the system was controlling the vehicle when it left the roadway, and the software version and crash narrative are withheld as confidential business information. The driver-assistance system is classified as Level 2 and requires continuous human supervision. The engagement status was absent from initial accounts and surfaced through an investigation by Electrek of the federal report. The crash remains under investigation, and no official determination of fault appears in the public record.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"severe","severity_because":"Test: safety of life. The quoted sentence states a fatal crash.","harm_class":["bodily"],"affected_description":null,"protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://ascendants.in/industry_events/tesla-driver-assist-fatal-new-jersey-crash/","publisher":"https://ascendants.in/","date":"2026-10-15","type":"press","title":"Tesla Driver-Assist Was Active Before Fatal New Jersey Crash, Filing Reveals - https://ascendants.in/","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report"},{"url":"https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/autopilot-fsd-engaged-tesla-crossed-153340562.html","publisher":"Yahoo","date":"2026-10-16","type":"press","title":"Autopilot/FSD Was “Engaged” When Tesla Crossed Median and Killed a Man, Company Confirms - Yahoo","archived_url":null,"independence":"derivative"},{"url":"https://sundayguardianlive.com/world/tesla-autopilot-federal-filing-confirms-driver-assistance-system-was-engaged-before-fatal-new-jersey-median-crash-306579/","publisher":"The Sunday Guardian","date":"2026-10-16","type":"press","title":"Tesla Autopilot: Federal Filing Confirms Driver-Assistance System Was Engaged Before Fatal New Jersey Median Crash - The Sunday Guardian","archived_url":null}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.developer":"C","system.intended_use":"C","system.autonomy_level":"C","event.date_occurred":"C","event.detection_method":"C","impact.severity":"C","impact.harm_class":"C","context.industry":"C","context.country":"C","event.incident_class":"D","impact.severity_because":"D","event.summary":"C","system.deployment_context":"D","event.trigger":"D","event.date_disclosed":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.developer":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Tesla’s filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) identifies the driver-assistance system’s engagement status as “Verified Engaged.”"}],"system.intended_use":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Despite the Full Self-Driving name, Tesla’s consumer system remains classified as Level 2 driver assistance and requires continuous human supervision."}],"system.autonomy_level":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Despite the Full Self-Driving name, Tesla’s consumer system remains classified as Level 2 driver assistance and requires continuous human supervision."}],"event.date_occurred":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The accident occurred on August 22, 2026, along Route 55 in Vineland, when a Tesla Model Y crossed a grassy highway median and entered oncoming traffic, striking a Chevrolet SUV."}],"event.detection_method":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"However, an investigation by electric vehicle publication Electrek uncovered a federal report in which Tesla confirmed the system had been engaged shortly before the collision."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The collision killed 68-year-old Phillip “Phil” Eastman, a Pennsylvania school board member and longtime ice hockey coach."}],"impact.harm_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The collision killed 68-year-old Phillip “Phil” Eastman, a Pennsylvania school board member and longtime ice hockey coach."}],"context.industry":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A fatal Tesla crash in New Jersey has come under renewed scrutiny after a federal filing revealed that the vehicle’s driver-assistance system was engaged within 30 seconds of the collision."}],"context.country":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"In the United States, Tesla continued to market the package under the Full Self-Driving name, with a subscription priced at $99 per month, according to the October 15 reporting."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The accident occurred on August 22, 2026, along Route 55 in Vineland, when a Tesla Model Y crossed a grassy highway median and entered oncoming traffic, striking a Chevrolet SUV."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The collision killed 68-year-old Phillip “Phil” Eastman, a Pennsylvania school board member and longtime ice hockey coach."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The accident occurred on August 22, 2026, along Route 55 in Vineland, when a Tesla Model Y crossed a grassy highway median and entered oncoming traffic, striking a Chevrolet SUV."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The collision killed 68-year-old Phillip “Phil” Eastman, a Pennsylvania school board member and longtime ice hockey coach."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Tesla’s filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) identifies the driver-assistance system’s engagement status as “Verified Engaged.”"},{"source_index":0,"quote":"While the disclosure raises fresh questions about what happened in the moments leading up to the accident, it does not establish whether the technology contributed to the crash or was controlling the vehicle when it crossed the median."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Yet several details that could help explain the incident, including the software version and a description of the crash, have been withheld from the public."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Despite the Full Self-Driving name, Tesla’s consumer system remains classified as Level 2 driver assistance and requires continuous human supervision."},{"source_index":1,"quote":"The crash remains under investigation according to available reporting."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"Sources do not state the software version (Autopilot or FSD), the crash narrative, whether the system was controlling the vehicle, whether the driver overrode it, or the event-recorder data; these are redacted or unknown. The 2021 Model Y is a vehicle model year, not an AI model version, so no model_name or model_version was set. No root cause, responsible party, trigger, or controls held/failed were stated, so those fields are empty. No remediation was reported. Filing date and disclosure date are not stated, so date_disclosed and date_detected are empty. The 37 mph speed is described by sources as not confirmed and is not recorded. Judgements made: incident_class set to other since no listed class fits a vehicle crash; autonomy_level set to supervised-auto from the Level 2 classification of Tesla’s consumer system generally, not confirmed for this vehicle; severity set to severe under the safety-of-life test from the stated death; harm_class bodily from the stated death. agent_involved and failure_class were not set because no autonomous agent acting autonomously is established. Source 0 is dated 2026-10-15 and is used as press coverage; the Sunday Guardian and Yahoo pieces were used for corroboration only. [case created by the backfill: read by claude-haiku-5-5, backfill-2026-11-01.2, 2026-11-01; not yet reviewed] [2026-11-01: evidence level set: Preliminary (Only a republished copy: Yahoo · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":"automotive","org_size_band":null,"country":"US","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"went_wrong","text":"The vehicle crossed the grassy median, struck a tree and entered northbound lanes, colliding head-on with a Chevrolet SUV.","quote":"The vehicle crossed the grassy median, struck a tree and continued into the northbound lanes, where it collided head-on with a Chevrolet SUV.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://ascendants.in/industry_events/tesla-driver-assist-fatal-new-jersey-crash/","https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/autopilot-fsd-engaged-tesla-crossed-153340562.html","https://sundayguardianlive.com/world/tesla-autopilot-federal-filing-confirms-driver-assistance-system-was-engaged-before-fatal-new-jersey-median-crash-306579/"]},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"Collision occurred at approximately 8:31 a.m. near milepost 34.6 in Cumberland County.","quote":"The collision occurred at approximately 8:31 a.m. on August 22 near milepost 34.6 in Cumberland County.","source_index":0,"when":"2026-08-22"},{"text":"Initial accounts did not mention driver-assistance involvement.","quote":"The involvement of Tesla’s driver-assistance technology was not mentioned in initial accounts of the crash.","source_index":0,"when":null},{"text":"Tesla’s NHTSA filing marked the driver-assistance system as Verified Engaged; filing date not stated.","quote":"Tesla’s filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) identifies the driver-assistance system’s engagement status as “Verified Engaged.”","source_index":0,"when":null},{"text":"Electrek contacted the New Jersey State Police to request crash records and vehicle data.","quote":"Electrek reported that it had contacted the New Jersey State Police to request crash records and vehicle data.","source_index":0,"when":null}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://ascendants.in/industry_events/tesla-driver-assist-fatal-new-jersey-crash/","https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/autopilot-fsd-engaged-tesla-crossed-153340562.html","https://sundayguardianlive.com/world/tesla-autopilot-federal-filing-confirms-driver-assistance-system-was-engaged-before-fatal-new-jersey-median-crash-306579/"]}}