Tesla revives automatic braking in response to lower review scores

Tesla has reintroduced automatic emergency braking to the Model S and Model X through an update after their continued omission led Consumer Reports to lower its ratings for the electric cars. It's a tentative step, mind you. The feature currently only works at speeds up to 28 miles per hour, so this won't save you if someone abruptly slows down on the highway. Higher speeds will come in stages, Tesla says. It's not clear just when you'll see the 90-mile-per-hour braking that came with models released before October 2016.

Consumer Reports plans to revisit its ratings once it believes the "vast majority" of Tesla owners have the update, and should look at scorecards again when higher speed limits arrive. That's no doubt what Tesla is hoping for – even a slight bump could help the Model S recover the top spot on CR's charts. All the same, it's hard to object too loudly when even a limited form of emergency braking could mean the difference between a nasty accident and arriving home safely.