U.S. Regulators Reject Petition to Recall 2.26M Teslas, Find No Safety Defect in One-Pedal Mode

On March 20, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced it had denied a petition requesting the recall of approximately 2.26 million Tesla vehicles. The petition, filed in March 2023, raised concerns that Tesla’s “one-pedal driving” mode could lead to driver error and unintended acceleration. However, after investigation, NHTSA concluded that related incidents were extremely rare and vehicle data showed the system responded as designed, indicating no safety defect. The agency noted that regenerative braking is widely used across electric vehicles—not unique to Tesla—and that the petitioner’s proposed modifications, such as mandatory braking interventions, lacked supporting evidence. Meanwhile, NHTSA has escalated its investigation into Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) advanced driver-assistance system, expanding the scope to cover 3.2 million vehicles. The probe now focuses on evaluating the system’s ability to detect and alert drivers under low-visibility conditions. The investigation has entered the engineering analysis phase and could serve as the basis for a future recall.