Tesla driver’s 2019 complaint on software is rejected by NHTSA

A file photo of a Tesla Model S P85d car in Shanghai. NHTSA is currently in the midst of an investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot system and a dozen collisions at crash scenes involving first-responder vehicles. — AFP

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rejected a 2019 petition to open a formal investigation into Tesla Inc’s battery management software, according to documents posted to the agency’s website.

A driver petitioned the agency in September 2019 to initiate a defect investigation of certain Tesla Model S and Model X vehicles that received an over-the-air update of battery management software, beginning in May 2019. The petition cited five vehicles that caught fire, two of them in the US.