DETROIT – A Tesla Model S electric car that crashed and burned last month in Florida, killing two teenagers, was traveling 116 miles per hour (187 kph) three seconds before impact and only slowed to 86 mph (138 kph) as the air bags were inflated, according to federal investigators. The National Transportation Safety Board, in a preliminary report on the crash, also said that the car missed a curve with a speed limit of 25 mph (40 kph), crashed into a wall twice, and witnesses reported that it erupted in flames. The driver and front-seat passenger, both 18, were killed in the May 8 crash in Fort Lauderdale. A rear-seat passenger was ejected and injured. According to the report released Tuesday, the car's lithium-ion battery re-ignited twice after firefighters extinguished the flames, once as the car was being loaded for removal from the scene and again in a storage yard.

A Tesla Model S electric car that crashed and burned last month in Florida, killing two teenagers, was traveling 116 miles per hour three seconds before impact and only slowed to 86 mpg as the air bags were inflated, according to federal investigators. The National Transportation Safety Board, in a preliminary report on the crash, also said that the car missed a curve with a 25 mph speed limit, crashed into a wall twice, and witnesses reported that it erupted in flames. The driver and front-seat passenger, both 18, were killed in the May 8 crash in Fort Lauderdale. A rear-seat passenger was ejected and injured. According to the report released Tuesday, the car's lithium-ion battery re-ignited twice after firefighters extinguished the flames, once as the car was being loaded for removal from the scene and again in a storage yard.

Two additional deaths in Malaysia were linked to ruptured air bag inflators made by Takata Corp., further damaging the reputation of the Japanese supplier as it works to comply with a U.S. order to expand a record recall. Two fatal Honda car crashes in Malaysia, one on April 16 and the other just last Monday, involved ruptured driver-side air bag inflators made by Takata, according to a statement by Honda Motor Co. The air bags had not been replaced though the two vehicles were included in recalls announced by the authorities, the automaker said. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Wednesday ordered Takata to replace as many as 40 million additional air bags in the U.S., more than doubling what has been announced. At least 13 deaths are now linked to the malfunctioning devices, underscoring the scale of the crisis confronting President Shigehisa Takada, who has seen his family company's market value plunge by 75 percent over the past year.

This week, Ford and Volvo announced they are forming a "coaliton" – along with Google – to push not only for the development of self-driving cars, but for federal "action" (their term) to force-feed them to us. The reasons are obvious: There's money – and control – in it. To understand what's going on, to grok the tub-thumping for these things, it is first of all necessary to deconstruct the terminology. The cars are not "self-driving." The "self-driving" car does what it has been programmed to do by the people who control it.

Auto makers need to push regulators around the world for consistent rules to allow autonomous cars to proliferate, the chief executive of Renault SA RNO -1.16 % and Nissan Motor NSANY -1.97 % Co. said Wednesday. Carlos Ghosn, speaking at the New York International Auto Show, said he expects autonomous vehicles to become more commonplace in coming years, eventually changing lanes on highways and driving through cities on their own. His companies plan to offer 10 autonomous-drive models by 2020. But differing regulations could present hurdles to clearing them for operation, he said. "It's very important that we…lobby in every single country with the regulatory authorities to take our eyes off the road and our hands off the wheel," Mr. Ghosn said, noting that his companies are working with U.S. and Japanese regulators.