On September 12, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it had launched a preliminary investigation into some electric vehicles produced by Vietnamese automaker VinFast because car owners complained that the Lane Keep Assist System (LaneKeepAssistSystem) of some of the company's vehicles was not working properly.
NHTSA said in a statement that it received 14 complaints from drivers of 2023 and 2024 VinFast vehicles that the vehicles' lane-keeping assist system "had difficulty identifying lanes and provided incorrect steering instructions that were difficult for drivers to correct." The agency subsequently investigated approximately 3,118 VinFast vehicles.
NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation stated that the preliminary assessment will assess the scope, frequency and severity of potential problems and determine whether the vehicle in question has safety-related defects. VinFast did not immediately respond to foreign media requests for comment on this report.
On April 24 this year, a VinFast VF8 electric car crashed in Pleasanton, California, killing a family of four (a couple and their 13- and 9-year-old children). A complaint filed with NHTSA on April 29 stated that the vehicle's steering failure may have been the cause of the accident. In May, NHTSA launched an investigation into the above accident.
In 2023, VinFast will start exporting cars from Vietnam to the United States. The company's chairman has said that VinFast sold less than 1,000 vehicles in North America last year. In July this year, VinFast lowered its sales target in the U.S. market this year to 80,000 vehicles from the previous 100,000 vehicles. In addition, the opening of the company's electric vehicle factory in North Carolina, USA, will be delayed by three years, from 2025 to 2028 as originally planned.