Tesla Delays Giving Fatal Crash Info To NHTSA

Tesla Model S (Credit: Tesla Motors )

When the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) asks you to submit some info, putting them off isn’t a good idea. But that’s exactly what Tesla’s been doing.

After having two months to gather critical information together about the famous fatal Model S crash in Florida, Tesla filed for a week-long extension. It doesn’t look too good and could cause NHTSA to be more critical of whatever the California automaker turns over.

According to a report from Business Insider, Tesla’s actually blaming the delay on NHTSA. The government organization modified its official request, and apparently that blew everything up. Some people have theorized that the information Tesla has about the crash is pretty damning, but for now that’s not confirmed in any way.

Once NHTSA has the requested info from Tesla, it will continue with the formal investigation. It could be months before the automaker is in the clear. Considering it’s the first fatality involving Autopilot, don’t expect NHTSA investigators to wrap things up quickly. The largely untested and unproven technology is under tough scrutiny, as it should be.

On an interesting side note, the Florida Highway Patrol is looking at the case as a potential homicide. A formal investigation with that angle in mind is supposed to end this week. For now, we have no idea who would be blamed for the homicide, if authorities conclude the accident wasn’t really accidental (or something like that).