The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has formally reported that it has documented a minimum of eighty separate instances in which Tesla’s advanced driver assistance suite, known as Full Self-Driving (Supervised), allegedly breached established traffic regulations by either proceeding through red traffic signals or by deviating into improper lanes. This finding, conveyed through an official letter dispatched to the automaker earlier this week, underscores the growing concern within federal safety circles regarding the performance and reliability of Tesla’s increasingly autonomous technologies.

According to the details provided in the letter, NHTSA disclosed that it had accumulated sixty-two specific complaints originating from Tesla vehicle owners, fourteen official incident reports submitted directly by Tesla itself, and an additional four accounts drawn from media investigations — all of which describe potential traffic law violations provoked by the behavior of the FSD system. These updated figures mark a significant increase from the previously recorded total of eighteen driver complaints, six manufacturer reports, and a single media reference cited by the agency when it first initiated its inquiry into FSD-related behavior in October. The escalation in reported incidents not only broadens the dataset available to investigators but also intensifies scrutiny of Tesla’s internal oversight processes and the broader regulatory questions surrounding partially automated driving technologies.

Within the same document, NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) stated that its current probe seeks to determine the extent to which Tesla’s driver assistance software can accurately perceive, interpret, and respond to critical roadway inputs such as traffic lights, regulatory signs, and lane markings. The agency’s specialists are equally focused on verifying whether FSD appropriately warns human drivers when system performance or external conditions demand manual intervention. In line with federal investigative protocols, Tesla is required to deliver its official responses, including the requested technical and operational data, no later than January 19, 2026.

The notable rise in reported complaints carries particular significance because the initial batch referenced back in October contained multiple submissions connected to a single intersection in Joppa, Maryland. At that time, Tesla informed NHTSA that it had implemented corrective measures intended to resolve the problem specific to that location. However, the agency’s latest correspondence makes no mention of whether these new cases are concentrated in any one region or dispersed more broadly across the country. Adding a layer of complexity to the matter, many of Tesla’s filings with regulators are heavily redacted, which limits public access to the precise technical and geographical details of each incident.

Intriguingly, the release of this latest NHTSA letter coincided with a social media statement from Tesla’s Chief Executive Officer, Elon Musk, who claimed via his account on X that the newest version of the Full Self-Driving software would enable drivers to send text messages while the driver assistance features are engaged — an activity that remains prohibited by law in nearly every U.S. state. Despite considerable attention drawn by Musk’s remark, NHTSA has thus far declined to provide public comment regarding the claim or its potential safety implications.

This latest correspondence from the federal agency serves as the formal beginning of the discovery and evidence-gathering stage of NHTSA’s broader investigation. Consequently, it enumerates an extensive set of information requests directed toward Tesla, including a demand for comprehensive figures detailing how many vehicles currently on the road are equipped with FSD capabilities, as well as statistical data showing how frequently drivers activate and rely on those features. In addition, ODI is requiring that Tesla furnish copies of all consumer complaints concerning the identified problems, encompassing submissions from private vehicle owners, corporate fleet operators, as well as any records generated through third-party legal actions, arbitration proceedings, or customer service channels.

This ongoing inquiry represents the second major federal investigation into Tesla’s Full Self-Driving technology in recent memory. The first began in October 2024, when NHTSA launched an examination focused on how FSD software functions under challenging environmental conditions characterized by reduced visibility — situations such as heavy fog, intense glare from sunlight, or other forms of obstruction that could impair sensor accuracy.

Together, these investigations reflect an intensifying effort by federal regulators to discern whether semi-autonomous vehicle technologies are evolving more rapidly than the regulatory frameworks built to contain them, and whether companies like Tesla are taking adequate precautions to ensure that human drivers remain fully aware, attentive, and capable of assuming control when the system’s limitations become apparent.

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