The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened a formal investigation into Tesla after discovering repeated delays in the automaker’s reporting of crashes involving its advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD).
Under a 2021 federal order, automakers are required to notify regulators within one to five days when crashes occur involving vehicles equipped with ADAS technology or automated driving systems. Serious incidents—such as those resulting in fatalities, injuries requiring hospitalization, or airbag deployment—must be reported within a single day.
Less severe crashes are given up to five days, and monthly updates are also required.
NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation filing says Tesla had failed to meet those deadlines, often submitting information months after incidents occurred. When the company did provide reports, they were either submitted in large batches or on a rolling basis, rather than within the required time frames.
Initial discussions between Tesla and the regulator indicated the problem was linked to flaws in the company’s data collection system. Tesla has told officials that it has since corrected the issue, but NHTSA is moving ahead with its audit as part of its standard processes to determine both the cause of the delays and whether any additional crash reports remain unfiled.
“Preliminary engagement between ODI and Tesla on the issue indicates that the timing of the reports was due to an issue with Tesla’s data collection, which, according to Tesla, has now been fixed. NHTSA is opening this Audit Query, a standard process for reviewing compliance with legal requirements, to evaluate the cause of the potential delays in reporting, the scope of any such delays, and the mitigations that Tesla has developed to address them. As part of this review, NHTSA 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,” NHTSA said in its filing.
This isn’t the first time NHTSA has taken a closer look at Tesla’s driver-assistance systems. For several years, the agency has been investigating whether the technology can safely handle real-world conditions such as sun glare, rain, or fog—a probe that covers about 2.4 million vehicles across Tesla’s lineup.
Most recently, the agency has also been examining Tesla’s new robotaxi program in Austin. Regulators have requested detailed information on the fleet’s operations, including the number of vehicles being used, the FSD version being used, whether there will be real-time monitoring of the robotaxis, and more.
You can read the full ODI resume below.
