Tesla reports crashes involving its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems to the NHTSA as required by a 2021 Standing General Order. The company accounts for approximately 85% of all industry reports, totaling nearly 4,000 incidents, with the number increasing annually.
The automaker redacts critical information from these reports, including crash narratives, software versions, and operating area data, citing confidential business information. Since 2019, Tesla has redacted the narrative in 99.9% of its submissions, a practice not followed by other major manufacturers like Ford, GM, Honda, or Toyota.
Electrek is currently matching redacted NHTSA reports with public records of fatal accidents to identify cases where Tesla systems were engaged. The investigation uses unredacted fields such as city, state, date, vehicle type, and incident time to verify these events against local police reports.
Tesla remains under investigation by the NHTSA regarding its crash reporting practices. While the company maintains that its driver-assist technology is Level 2, requiring constant human supervision, it continues to market the software as Full Self-Driving.