Democratic Senators Question NHTSA Over Tesla's FSD Safety Assertions

A new report has challenged Tesla's long-standing position that its Full Self-Driving technology delivers major safety improvements over human drivers. Senators Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut have now pressed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to scrutinize those claims in detail.

Senators press NHTSA on evaluation of Tesla data. In a letter sent June 16, the two Democrats asked whether the agency has reviewed the company's safety assertions or sought the crash data behind them. They called for a reply by July 7 and recommended tighter reporting rules for firms offering advanced driver-assistance systems and autonomous features.

The request arrives while NHTSA is already investigating Tesla's driver-assistance technologies, according to separate accounts.

Reuters identified flaws in Tesla's crash comparisons. Executives including Elon Musk have maintained that FSD is up to 10 times safer than a human driver. The Reuters probe found Tesla reached this ratio by matching airbag-deployment crashes in FSD vehicles against the overall U.S. crash rate, which counts every minor incident regardless of airbag use and therefore produces a distorted picture.

The analysis further noted that Tesla measured its cars against the typical American vehicle, which tends to be much older and lacks the latest safety equipment now standard on new models. That mismatch makes any safety edge appear larger than it is, the report concluded.

Tesla's European safety pitch draws parallel scrutiny. According to Reuters, the automaker supplied overstated safety statistics to officials while seeking approval for FSD in Europe. Dutch regulator RDW granted clearance and is now pursuing broader EU acceptance on Tesla's behalf.

Tesla policy manager Ivan Komusanac subsequently emailed Swedish authorities stating the system could save 32,000 lives and prevent 1.9 million injuries. Those projections rest on U.S. figures that assume every vehicle on American roads is swapped for one running FSD, the Swedish Transport Agency said. Officials there plan to examine the underlying assumptions before deciding on approval.

Tesla has long promoted FSD safety edge. For years the company has argued its technology outperforms human drivers, citing statistics such as one crash every 5.5 million miles with FSD versus a national average of one every 660,000 miles. The senators contend the supporting methodology is statistically flawed.