NHTSA grants Tesla five-week extension in FSD probe

Federal regulators granted Tesla Inc. a five-week extension to respond to a wide-ranging inquiry into whether vehicles operating with the company’s Full Self-Driving software violated traffic laws. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration set a new deadline of Feb. 23, 2026, after Tesla requested more time to manually review thousands of records.

The agency’s decision, issued Jan. 16, follows a written request Tesla filed Jan. 12 saying 8,313 records remained to be reviewed and that the company could process roughly 300 records per day. Tesla told the agency the manual review was necessary to identify incidents that may be relevant to the investigation and to prepare substantive responses to the agency’s information demands.

NHTSA opened a preliminary evaluation in October into alleged traffic violations while FSD was engaged, and in December issued a broad information request seeking consumer complaints, field reports, crash reports, lawsuits and internal assessments. The probe examines whether vehicles operating with FSD committed traffic infractions such as running red lights or driving on the wrong side of the road; some reported incidents involved crashes and injuries. The agency has said it received 62 complaints and has identified additional media and crash reports that may be tied to the issue.

Tesla told NHTSA that the volume and simultaneity of agency requests created an additional burden. The company cited parallel probes that include alleged delayed crash reporting and investigations into inoperative door handles, and said responding to multiple open inquiries could affect the quality of its responses. The NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation is overseeing the timeline for the FSD matter.

The extension preserves the agency’s access to Tesla’s forthcoming materials while giving the company time to complete what it described as a labor-intensive review of records. NHTSA’s preliminary evaluation could be narrowed, expanded or lead to further regulatory steps depending on what the agency finds in Tesla’s submissions and its own follow-up analysis.

Market reaction to the extension was muted. Tesla shares showed little immediate movement, and broader business reporting around the company noted a range of developments that could shape investor and regulatory attention. Separately, Tesla’s chief executive announced on X that the company plans to cease selling FSD as a standalone package and will offer the capability by subscription starting Feb. 14, with a reported price of $99 per month. Company delivery figures cited by business summaries show Tesla delivered 1.64 million vehicles in 2025, a roughly 9 percent decline year-over-year, while rival BYD sold about 2.26 million vehicles in the same period.

What remains to be seen is the substance of the materials Tesla furnishes by Feb. 23 and how NHTSA’s preliminary evaluation will evolve. The agency could move from evaluation to an engineering analysis or a defect investigation if its review finds a safety-related trend or systemic issue. For now, the extension buys Tesla time to complete a manual search through thousands of records while regulators continue assessing whether FSD-related driving behavior warrants enforcement or safety interventions.