The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the United States announced on Thursday (October 9th) that they are conducting a formal investigation into 2.88 million Tesla vehicles equipped with Full Self-Driving (FSD) system. This investigation was prompted by over fifty reports of traffic safety violations received by the agency, involving a series of traffic accidents.
The FSD system is an advanced driver-assistance system that requires the driver to remain attentive and intervene when necessary. The NHTSA stated that the system has exhibited “inducing violations of traffic safety regulations.” Reports received by the agency indicate that Tesla vehicles using FSD have run red lights and driven in the wrong direction when changing lanes.
Currently, the NHTSA is reviewing 58 reports of traffic safety violations while using FSD, including 14 accidents and 23 injuries. Six reports involve Tesla vehicles with the FSD system running red lights and getting into collisions with other vehicles at intersections. Four accidents resulted in injuries to one or more individuals.
This new investigation comes as Congress intensifies scrutiny on Tesla’s Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADSA), and shortly after the appointment of a new director at the NHTSA. If the investigation finds that these vehicles pose unreasonable safety risks, a recall may be considered after an initial assessment.
Tesla released a software update for its FSD system this week.
In 2024, a driver in Houston informed the NHTSA that the FSD “couldn’t recognize traffic signals. This led to the vehicle running red lights and stopping at green lights.” The complaint also added, “Tesla is unwilling to fix this issue, and even unwilling to acknowledge this problem, despite test-driving with me and witnessing the problem firsthand.”
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system is more advanced than its Autopilot system, and the NHTSA has been investigating FSD for a year now.
From October 2024, the NHTSA started investigating 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped with FSD after four accident reports indicated that these accidents occurred in low visibility conditions (such as sun glare, fog, or dust), including a fatal accident in 2023.
Tesla claims that FSD “can take you almost anywhere with very minimal interventions as long as the driver actively monitors,” but this doesn’t equate to fully autonomous driving.
In January of this year, the NHTSA investigated 2.6 million Tesla vehicles following reports that a feature allowing users to remote-control their vehicles resulted in traffic accidents.
The NHTSA is also reviewing Tesla’s Robotaxi autonomous taxi service that launched in June in Austin, Texas.
(This article is based on relevant reports from Reuters)