This article discusses the potential threat to ongoing federal investigations into Tesla's safety record under a Trump administration. It highlights concerns that Musk and Trump's actions could lead to the dismissal of probes into Tesla's self-driving technology and the weakening of safety regulations.
FILE – Elon Musk speaks as part of a campaign town hall in support of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump in Folsom, Pa., Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024.
This dashcam video image from a Tesla vehicle driving on Autopilot shows a moment before a fatal crash with the parked vehicle at center, near Key Largo, Fla., on April 25, 2019. The Tesla ran past a stop sign and crashed through a row of yellow warning signs before it collided into Naibel Benavides Leon, 22, and her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo. Benavides Leon died at the scene. Angulo suffered injuries but survived.
FILE – Elon Musk talks with President-elect Donald Trump before the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024 in Boca Chica, Texas. “Musk wants to run the Department of Transportation,” said Missy Cummings, a former senior safety adviser at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “I’ve lost count of the number of investigations that are underway with Tesla. They will all be gone.
As such, the temporal and fragile nature of the federal probes and safety programs make them easy targets for those seeking to weaken government oversight and upend long-established norms. Those donations and his efforts during the campaign — including the transformation of his social media platform X into a firehose of pro-Trump commentary — have been rewarded by Trump, who has tapped the entrepreneur to oversee efforts to slash government regulations and spending.
In the weeks before Trump took office on Jan. 20, the president-elect’s transition team recommended changes that would benefit the billionaire and his car company, including scrapping the federal order requiring carmakers to report crash data involving self-driving and partially automated technology.
Although most of the changes that Musk might seek for Tesla could unfold quickly, there is one long-term goal that could impact the autonomous vehicle industry for decades to come. They say they worry that the company may otherwise never be held accountable for its failures, like the one that took the life of 22-year-old Naibel Benavides Leon.
Tesla also said the driver “was pressing the accelerator to maintain 60 mph,” an action that effectively overrode Autopilot, which would have otherwise restricted the speed to 45 mph on the rural route, something Benavides Leon’s attorney disputes.NHTSA sets automobile safety standards that must be met before vehicles can enter the marketplace.
—The Justice Department is also probing whether Tesla misled customers about how far its electric vehicles can travel before needing a charge. Trump has also taken steps to gain control of the NLRB and EEOC. Last month, he fired Democratic members of the board andTesla and Musk have denied wrongdoing in all those investigations and are fighting the probes.The federal agency that appears to have enjoyed the most success in changing Tesla’s behavior is NHTSA, an organization of about 750 staffers that has forced the company to hand over crash data and cooperate in its investigations and requested recalls.
Michael Brooks, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, a non-profit consumer advocacy group, said some investigations might continue under Trump, but a recall is less likely to happen if a defect is found. An investigation of Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system started in October after Tesla reported four crashes to NHTSA in which the vehicles had trouble navigating through sun glare, fog and airborne dust. In one of the accidents, an Arizona woman was killed after stopping on a freeway to help someone involved in another crash.
Critics have said that Teslas don’t have proper sensors to be fully self-driving. Nearly all other companies working on autonomous vehicles use radar and laser sensors in addition to cameras to see better in the dark or in poor visibility conditions. Tesla, on the other hand, relies only on cameras to spot hazards.
Smith and other autonomous vehicle experts say Musk has felt pressure to provide Tesla shareholders with excuses for repeated delays in rolling out its futuristic cars. The financial stake is enormous, which Musk acknowledged during a 2022 interview. He said the development of a fully self-driving vehicle was “really the difference between Tesla being worth a lot of money and being worth basically zero.
ELON MUSK TESLA SAFETY INVESTIGATIONS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
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