U.S. to review petition seeking formal defect probe into 500,000 Tesla vehicles

[January 17, 2020]  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said Friday it will review a petition asking the agency to formally investigate 500,000 Tesla Inc models over sudden unintended acceleration reports.

A Tesla Model S steering wheel is on display at the Canadian International AutoShow in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, February 13, 2019. REUTERS/Mark Blinch

The petition covers 2012 through 2019 model year Tesla Model S, 2016 through 2019 Tesla Model X, and 2018 through 2019 Tesla Model 3 vehicles the agency said. The petition cites "127 consumer complaints to NHTSA involving 123 unique vehicles. The reports include 110 crashes and 52 injuries," the agency added. Tesla did not immediately comment Friday.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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