The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) just announced an investigation into Tesla regarding its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) systems, according to a report by Electrek. The road safety regulator says the probe involves inconsistencies with how the company reports crashes regarding the aforementioned systems.
The NHTSA requires automakers to report crashes involving autonomous and driver assistance systems within five days of being notified of them. The agency claims that Tesla has sometimes waited months to report these crashes. It’s worth remembering that the company’s vehicles are outfitted with technology that automatically records and sends out data regarding a collision within minutes of an accident.
Tesla has acknowledged the issue but says this is all due to an error in its systems, which has since been fixed. However, the agency will continue the investigation, citing that it will “assess whether any reports of prior incidents remain outstanding and whether the reports that were submitted include all of the required and available data.”
The NHTSA has good reason to not accept Tesla’s explanation at face value. It currently has other open investigations into the company. There’s one involving its remote parking feature that has allegedly caused a number of crashes and another looking into the efficacy of a recent software fix that followed a massive recall.
Tesla also recently lost a wrongful death case involving an Autopilot crash in which it was revealed in testimony that the company lied and misled police and plaintiffs to hide pertinent data. The company leads other auto manufacturers by a country mile when it comes to crashes involving driver assistance systems. Tesla vehicles were involved in the vast majority of total incidents reported to the NHTSA from 2021 to 2024. That translates to over 2,300 crashes, compared to 55 for second-place GM.
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