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American vehicle safety authorities have commenced an probe into Tesla vehicles equipped with the full self-driving technology due to traffic-safety violations after several collisions.

Safety Agency Identifies Safety Regulation Violations

The NHTSA declared that the electric carmaker's autonomous driving feature, which demands motorists to remain attentive and intervene if needed, had caused vehicle behaviour that breached road safety regulations”.

This early investigation by the NHTSA marks the first step before potentially requesting a recall of the cars if the agency concludes they pose a risk to public safety.

Alarming Incident Reports

The agency reported it had documented accounts of nearly 3 million Tesla vehicles running red traffic lights and traveling against the wrong way during lane changes while operating the system.

NHTSA stated it has six reports in which a Tesla vehicle, operating with FSD activated, “approached an junction with a red light, continued to drive into the crossroads against the red signal and was subsequently part of a crash with other motor vehicles in the intersection”.

The agency reported that four accidents had caused one or more injuries.

Further Safety Concerns

The NHTSA stated it has identified 18 complaints and one news account claiming that Tesla vehicles, operating at an intersection with FSD engaged, “failed to remain stationary for the entire time of a red traffic signal, did not come to complete stop, or did not properly recognize and show the correct light status in the vehicle interface”.

Some complainants also claimed that FSD “failed to give warnings of the technology's intended behaviour as the vehicle was approaching a red light”.

Ongoing Official Examination

The full self-driving system, which is more sophisticated than its Autopilot system, has been being examined by NHTSA for twelve months.

In October 2024, the authority started an investigation into 2.4 million Tesla cars using FSD after four reported collisions in situations of reduced visibility, such as sun glare, mist or dust clouds. One of these collisions, in 2023, was fatal.

Manufacturer's Official Stance

The company's official position indicates that FSD is “designed for operation by a fully attentive motorist, who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to assume control at any time. While these features are designed to become more capable, the currently enabled features do not make the car self-driving.”

Self-driving car systems continue to face increased scrutiny from safety agencies as the technology advances and practical implementation reveals possible issues with existing deployments.