Elon Musk’s Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) continuously strives to improve the safety of its vehicles despite achieving 5-star ratings from rating authorities across the globe.
Following this work ethic, Tesla has stepped up its safety measures in the over-the-air (OTA) software update version 2025.32.3. Tesla vehicles with this ‘ Frontal Airbag System Enhancement’ feature will utilize the Tesla Vision AI to deploy airbags (see compatibility below).
Along with the sensors to detect a frontal collision, Tesla has now enabled its front camera vision (Tesla Vision) to predict a crash. This approach allows Tesla vehicles to detect a frontal collision earlier and deploy the airbags.
Although the new Tesla Vision-based airbag deployment feature in the 2025.32.3 update is a good safety upgrade, it has both pros and cons (read below).
Tesla Update 2025.32.3 Official Release Notes
Frontal Airbag System Enhancement
This upgrade builds upon your vehicle’s superior crash protection by now using Tesla Vision to help offer some of the most cutting-edge airbag performance in the event of a frontal crash. Building on top of regulatory and industry crash testing, this release enables the front airbags to begin to inflate and restrain occupants earlier, in a way that only Tesla’s integrated systems are capable of doing, making your car safer over time.
Compatibility
Once again, there is bad news for older Tesla vehicles with the legacy HW3 computer. HW3-based Tesla vehicles are not going to get the Frontal Airbag System Enhancement feature in the 2025.32.3 software update.
The 2025.32.3 release notes for HW3 Teslas only mention ‘Minor Fixes and Improvements’.
Only HW4/AI4-based Tesla vehicles are getting the new Tesla Vision AI-enabled frontal airbag system enhancement. If your Tesla vehicle was shipped in or after January 2023, it’s HW4.
If you’re unsure which version your Tesla vehicle is, go to Vehicle Options > Software > Additional Vehicle Information, and the screen will show you the version of your ‘Autopilot Computer’.
Tesla Vision Background
The development of the Tesla Vision artificial intelligence began around 2017 after Stanford Phd computer scientist Andrej Karpathy joined Tesla (TSLA) as AI Director.
In 2021, Andrej Karpathy explained why Tesla took the vision-based approach instead of using multiple radars and LiDAR for Autopilot features and Full Self-Driving (FSD).
Use of Tesla Vision resulted in the removal of the forward-facing radar, and later on, the automaker also got rid of the ultrasonic sensors from Tesla vehicles.
Tesla has been testing safety systems and airbag deployment at its crash labs for years now. Before deploying the Tesla Vision-based airbag enhancement feature, the tech & AI-based automaker must have tested it thoroughly in-house.
Andrej left Tesla in 2022, but the automaker’s AI team kept on developing the neural-net-based Tesla Vision AI.
Pros, Cons, and Concerns
The automatic deployment of the vehicle airbags using Tesla Vision AI in the 2025.32.3 update has sparked a discussion of the system’s pros and cons.
In a Reddit thread, while some owners are praising the new feature, others are also sharing their concerns.
Tesla is already dealing with automatic rain wiper issues, the function of which relies on Tesla Vision instead of sensors. Phantom or false braking during FSD drives, despite being reduced in recent updates, still happens as the car’s AI vision sometimes miscalculates the environment.
Due to the false positives in Tesla Vision, the automaker still requires human supervision over Autopilot, hence FSD (Supervised).
If Tesla Vision AI has a similar false positive while deploying airbags, it can result in unexpected consequences. Unexpected airbag deployment can injure and surprise the vehicle occupants. Will Tesla bear the cost of replacing an airbag that falsely deployed by the car’s AI?
The 2025.32.3 update started rolling out yesterday. If such an issue arises, it will be reported immediately. Stay tuned.
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- Tesla update 2025.32.3: Tesla Vision-based airbag deployment feature (release notes, compatibility info, pros & cons)
