---
title: "A Tesla Model S’s Autopilot Was Knocked Out—By a Moth"
description: "In the car's defense, it was one big honker of an insect."
date: "2016-05-18"
modified: "2016-05-18"
authors:
  - name: "Will Sabel Courtney"
    job_title: "Contributor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/will-sabel-courtney"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/3541/a-tesla-model-ss-autopilot-was-knocked-out-by-a-moth"
categories:
  - "Car Tech"
  - "Electric Vehicles"
  - "News"
  - "News by Brand"
  - "Self-Driving Tech"
tags:
  - "Electric Vehicle"
  - "luxury"
  - "model s"
  - "sedan"
  - "Tesla"
---

# A Tesla Model S’s Autopilot Was Knocked Out—By a Moth

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/archive-images/051816-tesla-moth-hero.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Another [Tesla Model S](<https://www.teslamotors.com/models>) has suffered an Autopilot malfunction on the open roads of the American Southwest—[but unlike the recent crash outside of Los Angeles, there's no contention about what caused the Tesla's self-driving systems to go haywire](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/3497/another-tesla-model-s-may-have-crashed-while-driving-itself>). Much like a Tokyo suburb in a Godzilla movie, the Tesla's Autopilot had been taken out by a giant moth.

According to the owner of the insect-injured [Model S P90 D](<https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/3186/tesla-model-s-p90d-ludicrous-proves-tesla-is-the-new-apple>), who goes by the Reddit handle [Redebo](<https://www.reddit.com/user/Redebo>), the car was cruising along Route 93 between Las Vegas and Kingman, Arizona, running at a steady 85 miles per hour on Autopilot, when disaster, in moth form, struck.

"SUDDENLY, my driver console flashes red and commands me to take control of the vehicle," [he wrote on Reddit](<https://www.reddit.com/r/teslamotors/comments/4irtae/mothra_strikes_back_knocks_me_out_of_autopilot_on/>). "\[Autopilot\] drops off. Cruise control drops off and I get the ominous warning, 'Radar visibility has been reduced.'

"I see a lone gas station up the road and slow my roll into the fluorescent lighting of the canopy covering the gas pumps. I step out of the car while a car of German exchange students look quizzically at a \[Model S\] parked next to a pump. Fearing the worst, I peek around the front of the car and was confronted with this sight," he wrote.

[Redobo then posted an image of the kamikaze moth splattered against the Model S's forward radar window](<https://i.imgur.com/hOZ8CnL.jpg>). Unfortunately, due to rights restrictions, we can't include the image here, but we have embedded a Twitter post containing the image below. (Caution: mottephobes should stop reading immediately.)

https://twitter.com/_/status/730486344611434496

Much like mud, snow, road grime, and myriad other debris, insect impacts are theoretically capable of taking out not only Tesla's Autopilot system, but any carmaker's radar-based active cruise control system. By blocking the radar transmitter on the front of the car, dead bugs prevent the car from determining the distance between it and a vehicle in front. If the system is operating correctly, it should do exactly what Redobo's Tesla did: deactivate the cruise control and tell the driver to resume manual control.

As for the offending arthropod, Redebo said a quick swipe of the gas station's window washer squeegee was all it took to dislodge the mega-moth and restore Autopilot functionality.

## Author
Will is the former managing editor of *RIDES Magazine* and the former online editor for *0-60 Magazine*. He has worked for *Time Out New York* and *Rolling Stone*, and was the creator of *College Cars Online*, the first automotive blog specifically targeted at college students and young professionals.

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/willsabelcourtney>)  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/willscourtney>)