About this episode
The NHTSA officially rejected a petition that had been pushing for a recall of 2.26 million Tesla vehicles over concerns about one-pedal driving. The original complaint, filed back in 2023, argued that Tesla's regenerative braking system confused drivers and led to unintended acceleration. NHTSA found no evidence of a defect or safety risk, citing very few relevant incidents and data showing vehicles responded as intended. One-pedal driving, regulators pointed out, is a standard feature of electric vehicles broadly, not a Tesla-specific problem. A clean win on paper, except it came on the same week that Tesla's real regulatory headache got significantly worse.
Tesla
FSD's Blind Spot Problem Is Now a Federal CaseAlmost simultaneously, NHTSA upgraded a separate investigation into Tesla's Full Self-Driving software to an engineering analysis, which is the final stage of scrutiny before the agency can push for a mandatory recall. The probe now covers an estimated 3.2 million vehicles, and the central finding is damning for Tesla's camera-only approach.Tesla's system may fail to detect hazardous situations and alert the driver as it should when camera functionality is impaired. In some cases, it only gives a warning seconds before an accident, or fails to do so entirely. Sun glare, dust, and fog are common failure points for Tesla’s FSD. The NHTSA has identified nine accidents connected to the problem, including one death, and is reviewing six other possible related incidents. This is also not Tesla's only active FSD investigation. A separate probe covers 2.88 million vehicles over more than 50 reports of traffic safety violations, with findings that FSD has induced vehicle behavior that violated traffic safety laws.
Jonathan Challinger
