US senators ask for review of Tesla’s ‘Full Self-Driving’ safety data, citing Reuters report

LOS ANGELES, June 16 (Reuters) – Two U.S. senators are asking the nation’s traffic safety regulator to examine Tesla’s (TSLA.O), opens new tab self-published ​crash statistics for its “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) driver-assistance system, following a Reuters investigation last ‌month that found the EV maker was exaggerating its safety claims.

Democratic senators Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut to the U.S. National Highway Traffic ​Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Monday, citing the Reuters report and saying the analysis ​underlying Tesla’s FSD safety statistics, opens new tab is “weak and misleading,” creating “an urgent safety ⁠problem.”

The letter asks NHTSA to write back by July 7 to answer a series ​of questions, including whether the agency has evaluated Tesla’s FSD safety claims or ​asked for the underlying crash data used to make the claims. The senators also urge NHTSA to strengthen reporting requirements for companies using self-driving technology or advanced driver-assistance systems like ​Tesla’s FSD, saying the agency has no way of knowing whether “public safety ​claims bear any relationship to reality.”

Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.

NHTSA said it ‌received the ⁠letter and is reviewing it.

The Reuters examination last month found that Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other leaders over the past year have increasingly cited statistics they say prove FSD is up to 10 times safer than human ​drivers. Researchers interviewed by ​Reuters said Tesla ⁠exaggerates the technology’s safety by comparing a rate of crashes in FSD-piloted Teslas that triggered airbag deployments to a ​U.S. crash rate for all vehicles that includes far less ​severe accidents.

The ⁠company also compares its cars to the average U.S. vehicle, which is much older than the average Tesla. That distorts the results because automakers have gradually introduced ⁠new ​safety features that reduce crashes.

Tesla has also presented ​the inflated safety data to European regulators in its efforts to secure EU approval of FSD, Reuters reported ​earlier this week.