Tesla is slow in reporting crashes and the feds have launched an
investigation to find out why
[August 22, 2025] By
BERNARD CONDON
NEW YORK (AP) — Federal auto safety regulators are investigating why
Tesla has repeatedly broken rules requiring it to quickly tell them
about crashes involving its self-driving technology, a potentially
significant development given the company's plans to put hundreds of
thousands of driverless cars on U.S. roads over the next year.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a filing on
Thursday that Tesla's reports on “numerous” incidents involving its
driver assistance and self-driving features were submitted far too late
— several months after the crashes instead of within five days as
required.
The probe comes two months after the electric vehicle maker run by Elon
Musk started a self-driving taxi service in Austin, Texas, with hopes of
soon offering it nationwide. The company also hopes to send over-the-air
software updates to millions of Teslas already on the road that will
allow them to drive themselves.
Investors enthusiastic about such plans have kept Tesla stock aloft
despite plunging sales and profits due to boycotts over Musk's support
for U.S. President Donald Trump and far-right politicians in Europe.
The safety agency said the probe will focus on why Tesla took so long to
report the crashes, whether the reports included all the necessary data
and details and if there are crashes that the agency still doesn't know
about.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment, but the agency noted
that the company has told it the delays were “due to an issue with
Tesla’s data collection," which Tesla says has now been fixed.
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 The new investigation follows
another probe that began in October into potential problems with
Tesla's self-driving technology in foggy weather and other low
visibility conditions, which has been linked to several accidents
including one death. That probe involves 2.4 million Tesla vehicles.
The crash reporting rule for vehicles using Level 2
driver-assistance software, or those that require drivers to pay
full attention to the road, was implemented in 2021. Since then
Tesla has reported 2,308 crashes when the software was used, the
vast majority of the more than 2,600 reported by all automakers,
according to agency data. The numbers are skewed by the fact that
Tesla is by far the dominant maker of partial self-driving vehicles
in the U.S.
The company has been offering robotaxi rides in Austin to only a
select group of riders, but said it will allow any paying customer
to hail its cabs starting sometime in September, according to a Musk
post on X earlier this month. Tesla has also begun allowing limited
robotaxi service in San Francisco with a driver behind the wheel as
a safety check to conform with California rules.
Investors in Tesla were initially cheered after Trump won the
presidency in hopes he would reward his biggest financial backer,
Musk, by getting safety regulators to go easier on the company. Now
that isn't so certain given Musk's falling out with the president in
recent months after Musk called Trump's budget bill an “abomination”
that would add to U.S. debt and threatened to form a new political
party.
Tesla stock fell less than 1% in afternoon trading Thursday to $321.
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