A US federal safety regulator has “upgraded” its investigation into Ford’s hands-free advanced driver assistance system known as BlueCruise – a necessary step before a recall can be issued. .

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects Investigation launched a probe to Ford BlueCruise in April after the agency confirmed the system was active in the Ford Mustang Mach E vehicles involved two fatal crashes. In both instances, the Mustang Mach E cars hit stationary vehicles.

NHTSA issued a announcement this week that it advances the investigation into engineering analysis. This means the agency will dig deeper into BlueCruise and its potential limitations, including vehicle evaluations, reviewing more technical information, and doing more analysis of related crashes and non-crashes. reports.

An estimated 129,222 Ford Mustang Mach E vehicles are equipped with BlueCruise, according to the regulator. Ford did not respond to a request for comment. (TechCrunch will update the article if that changes.)

The agency said its initial investigation found that BlueCruise has limitations in “detection of stationary vehicles under certain conditions.” Those limitations include the potential to falsely detect stationary objects in the distance when the Ford vehicle is traveling at or above 62 miles per hour.

“Additionally, system performance may be limited when visibility is poor due to insufficient light,” NHTSA said.

Ford debuted BlueCruise in 2021 on the 2021 F-150 pickup truck and some 2021 Mustang Mach-E models. The hands-free feature uses cameras, radar sensors, and software to provide a combination of adaptive cruise control, lane centering, and speed-sign recognition. BlueCruise and competitors Super Cruise by GM The systems are both hands-free, though an in-cabin camera monitors drivers to make sure their eyes are on the road.

These systems are considered competitors to Tesla Autopilot, which still requires the driver’s hands to remain on the wheel. Autopilot and the upgraded Tesla Full Self-Driving software are still considered less restrictive than Ford BlueCruise, which only works on certain pre-mapped highways.

Last October, NHTSA has also opened an investigation to Tesla’s so-called “Full Self-Driving (Supervised)” software after four reported crashes in low-visibility situations — including one where a pedestrian was killed. That investigation is ongoing.