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Tesla Gets a Five-Week Extension for Some Responses in NHTSA FSD Probe

NHTSA gave Tesla until February 23, 2026, to answer selected questions in its FSD investigation. Other responses stayed due January 19, and the extension was not a defect finding.
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Tesla received five extra weeks to answer a specific set of questions in a federal investigation of alleged traffic-safety violations involving its Full Self-Driving (FSD) driver-assistance system. The extension moved those answers from January 19 to February 23, 2026; responses to questions not listed in the extension memo remained due January 19. The change was procedural—not a finding that Tesla violated traffic laws or that FSD has a safety defect.

What the five-week extension changed

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) granted Tesla’s request on January 15, 2026. The agency extended the deadline through February 23 only for questions identified in its memo. All questions not included in that table retained the original January 19 deadline. NHTSA’s extension memo sets out the division.

Tesla requested the additional time on January 12. In its request, Tesla said it had 8,313 records left to review manually and could process about 300 per day. Those figures were Tesla’s explanation for the request, reproduced in the agency memo—not an independently measured review rate. Tesla also cited the holiday period and concurrent NHTSA requests. The memo records Tesla’s stated reasons.

The extension did not pause or end the investigation. It changed the response schedule for a subset of an information request.

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What NHTSA is investigating

ODI opened Preliminary Evaluation PE25012 on October 7, 2025, to examine allegations that Tesla vehicles using FSD made maneuvers that may constitute traffic-safety violations. The inquiry also concerns whether the system detects and responds to traffic signals, signs and lane markings, and whether it gives drivers adequate indications and warnings to supervise the driving task and intervene.

“This investigation will assess the capability of FSD to accurately detect and appropriately respond to traffic signals, signs and lane markings, as well as its capability to provide adequate indications and warnings to the driver.”

That is how ODI described the inquiry in its December 3, 2025, letter to Tesla. The information request treats the matter as an investigation of allegations and asks for evidence to assess their scope, frequency and potential safety consequences. It is not a final defect determination, a recall notice or proof that any alleged traffic violation occurred.

FSD here means supervised driver assistance

The request covers Tesla’s FSD, FSD (Supervised) and FSD (Beta) systems. Its focus on driver indications and warnings reflects the need for a human driver to supervise the automated driving task and be able to take over; the inquiry does not describe FSD as an autonomous service that removes the driver’s responsibility.

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What records NHTSA requested

The December 3 information request reaches well beyond a tally of incidents. ODI sought information about vehicles equipped with FSD and their relevant hardware and software, along with cumulative measures such as equipped-vehicle counts, vehicle-days, key cycles, engagement status and miles. It also requested complaints and field and internal incident reports, crash information, injuries, fatalities, claims, arbitrations and lawsuits.

For responsive incidents, Tesla was asked for details such as software version, map data, location and time, the type of alleged violation, whether automation was engaged, driver alerts or takeover requests, property damage, injuries and fatalities. For crashes, ODI sought Tesla’s summaries of causal and contributing factors and its assessment, as well as related documents and materials including vehicle data logs, event data recorder reports, video, display recordings, imagery and police reports. These requests are evidence-gathering measures, not agency findings that every category contains a confirmed FSD-related event. The full request describes the information sought.

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Why the reported counts differ

The figures in NHTSA’s October and December documents are separate snapshots with different dates and categories. They should not be added together or described as confirmed violations.

Document and date What NHTSA reported How to read it
ODI resume, October 7, 2025 Estimated population of 2,882,566 vehicles; 58 reports, including 14 crashes or fires and 23 injuries Initial case snapshot. The figures are reports and reported outcomes, not adjudicated findings. NHTSA resume
Information request, December 3, 2025 62 complaints, four media reports and 14 Standing General Order reports that might relate to the alleged defect A later document with distinct report categories; it is not a replacement total to combine with the October figures. NHTSA information request

The 58 reports in the October resume and the 62 complaints in the December letter are not directly comparable totals: they come from different dated documents and use different category labels. Likewise, the counts of crashes or fires, injuries, media reports and Standing General Order reports should be kept in their stated categories.

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Timeline and current status

  • October 7, 2025: NHTSA opened PE25012. Its resume listed an estimated population of 2,882,566 vehicles and the initial report snapshot shown above. ODI resume
  • December 3, 2025: ODI sent Tesla Information Request PE25012-01, outlining the inquiry and requested records. Information request
  • January 12, 2026: Tesla requested more time for selected responses, citing manual review work, holiday overlap and concurrent agency requests. Extension memo
  • January 15, 2026: ODI granted a partial extension through February 23 for listed questions; unlisted answers remained due January 19. Extension memo
  • January 16, 2026: Ars Technica and Reuters reported the extension. Ars Technica · Reuters via Investing.com
  • As of October 4, 2026: RoadVitals listed PE25012 as open with no outcome recorded. That is a tracker status, not a substitute for an official agency disposition. RoadVitals case index

No final disposition is established by the available status listing. The extension itself should not be read as evidence that NHTSA has confirmed a defect, ordered a recall or closed the case.

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