Nearly 2.9 million Tesla vehicles are currently under investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) after reports of traffic safety violations linked to the cars' Full Self-Driving System.

According to a filing on the NHTSA’s website, the agency’s Office of Defects Investigation began looking into Tesla cars equipped with the "FSD (Supervised)" and "FSD (Beta)" versions of self-driving systems on Tuesday, Oct. 7.

FSD, which requires drivers to pay attention and intervene if needed, has "induced vehicle behavior that violated traffic safety laws," the auto safety agency said.

The NHTSA office received reports of 58 safety violations linked to Tesla vehicles equipped with the Full Self-Driving System. The agency added that more than a dozen crashes and fires, as well as 23 injuries, have been linked to the affected cars.

Officials also laid out the most common types of safety violations reported to the NHTSA.

"The first type of scenario involves a vehicle operating with FSD proceeding into an intersection in violation of a red traffic signal. The second type of scenario involves FSD commanding a lane change into an opposing lane of traffic," the NHTSA said.

Here's what to know about the NHTSA's open investigation into the affected Tesla vehicles.

What Tesla cars are under investigation?

According to the NHTSA, an estimated 2,882,566 cars are under investigation by the agency, including:

  • 2023-2026 Tesla Cybertruck
  • 2017-2026 Tesla Model 3
  • 2016-2025 Tesla Model S
  • 2016-2025 Tesla Model X
  • 2020-2026 Tesla Model Y

USA TODAY contacted Tesla on Thursday, Oct. 9, but has not received a response. The company did issue a software update to FSD this week, Reuters reported.

This is also not the first time NHTSA has looked into FSD, as the agency opened an investigation in October 2024 into an estimated 2.4 million Tesla vehicles over the feature following reports of four crashes, with one of them being fatal.

The reported crashes occurred "after entering an area of reduced roadway visibility conditions," including "sun glare, fog, or airborne dust." The fatal crash involved a pedestrian being struck and killed by a Tesla vehicle.

Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@gannett.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nearly 2.9M Tesla cars probed over traffic violations linked to self-driving system

Reporting by Fernando Cervantes Jr., USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect