U.S. auto safety regulators have granted Tesla a five-week extension to respond to an investigation examining whether the company’s vehicles violated traffic laws while operating with its Full Self-Driving (FSD) system engaged.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said on Friday it had extended Tesla’s deadline for key responses until Feb. 23, after the automaker requested additional time to manually review thousands of records to identify incidents potentially relevant to the probe.
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The investigation forms part of broader federal scrutiny of Tesla’s advanced driver-assistance technology, as regulators assess claims that vehicles using FSD may have committed traffic violations. Tesla is led by billionaire chief executive Elon Musk, who has repeatedly promoted the system as a step toward autonomous driving.
NHTSA opened a preliminary evaluation in October and, in December, issued a wide-ranging information request seeking data on consumer complaints, field reports, crashes, lawsuits and internal analyses related to alleged violations involving FSD. The agency said it has so far received 62 complaints and identified additional media and crash reports that could be linked to the issue.
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In a request dated Jan. 12, Tesla told regulators that 8,313 records still needed to be reviewed and that the company could process about 300 records per day. The automaker also cited the strain of responding to multiple NHTSA investigations at the same time, including separate probes into delayed crash reporting and door handles that may fail to operate.
Tesla warned that the volume and overlap of regulatory requests could affect the quality and timeliness of its responses, prompting the request for more time. NHTSA said it agreed to the extension to allow the company to complete its review while maintaining the integrity of the investigation.