Tesla, Volvo, Cadillac, Lexus, and Navya are five car companies under investigation by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) for crashes that occurred while Advanced Driver Assistance Systems were activated, the agency said.
The NHTSA released a list of 36 total accidents that occurred in the United States, dating back as far as June 2016. Of the 36 accidents, 30 of them involve Tesla vehicles. Not all of the Teslas listed were utilizing Autopilot, however. Three of the Teslas listed have their cases described as “Electric Vehicle – Not in Autopilot,” according to the list that the NHTSA provided to Teslarati. Additionally, one incident hasn’t been confirmed of whether a Tesla Model S utilized Autopilot during the time of its crash. Five accidents are listed as “More Over Law Special Study,” while one is listed as “Heavy Truck Underride.”
The NHTSA did not provide a statement.
Tesla’s Autopilot systems, despite being proven through statistics to make vehicles nearly 10 times less likely to be involved in an accident compared to a human driver, are still widely considered controversial by many who have not experienced the system. Autopilot is not fully autonomous, and Tesla has never claimed that its vehicles should be operated without the driver paying attention to road conditions or surroundings. However, the company has implemented several safety features to ensure that drivers are paying attention during the use of Autopilot or the Full Self-Driving suite.
On the list are several notable accidents that are recent. One involves the Model S crash in Texas that killed two after catching fire. The NHTSA already performed a preliminary investigation on the accident and determined that Autosteer could not have be engaged where the accident took place.
The NHTSA said:
“The vehicle was equipped with Autopilot, Tesla’s advanced driver assistance system. Using Autopilot requires both the Traffic-Aware Cruise Control and the Autosteer systems to be engaged. 2 NTSB tests of an exemplar car at the crash location showed that Traffic-Aware Cruise Control could be engaged but that Autosteer was not available on that part of the road.”
Another accident, which was listed as “Heavy Truck Underride,” involved a Model Y in Detroit. Despite the local Police department stating that reckless driving was the likely cause of the crash, the NHTSA is still investigating the accident.
Tesla Model Y crash in Detroit likely caused by reckless driving, not Autopilot: police
Volvo is among the other manufacturers on the list, with a March 2017 and a March 2018 accident involving its XC90. The 2017 accident resulted in minor injuries, while the 2018 incident was fatal to the passenger. The XC90 was utilizing ADAS during both accidents, the NHTSA chart says. The Lexus RH450H, the Cadillac CT6 (listed twice), and the Navya Arma were also all listed with ADAS case types, but all of these vehicles had no injuries due to the accidents.
Update: Volvo reached out to Teslarati and indicated that both of their investigations were from Uber test vehicle incidents. The company told us:
“It’s important to note that, to the best of our knowledge, both lines in the NHTSA chart marked as ”XC90” are Uber test vehicle incidents. At the time of the fatal incident, Volvo’s automatic emergency braking system was deactivated for Uber’s testing purposes.”
News
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner probably just secured more locations
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner in Los Angeles dominated the company’s global usage rankings after just one year, proving the concept is more than just a one-off novelty location that will fade away.
The performance could incite the company to build more locations, something that CEO Elon Musk has hinted at for some time.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner delivered 21.2 GWh of energy in its first year of operation, the company’s head of Charging, Max de Zegher, revealed on X. Of the top 10 most utilized Supercharger locations in Tesla’s global infrastructure, the Diner in Los Angeles was the most used by drivers, and it wasn’t particularly close:
Tesla Diner opened exactly 1 year ago. Inspiring that futuristic places like this exist.
It’s our highest usage Supercharger in the world: 21.2 GWh delivered in a year, 1.6k sessions/day.
Top 10 Superchargers by energy delivered: https://t.co/9YvJ8lw696 pic.twitter.com/koB3AUJHws
— Max (@MdeZegher) July 21, 2026
On its launch day one year ago, nobody was too sure what the Tesla Diner would be about. It seemed like an interesting concept, and considering it had been in the works for years, it was a highly anticipated launch that many were looking forward to.
Based on its success, we could see additional Diners with Superchargers built throughout the United States, and potentially beyond. Musk has said on several occasions that the company would be willing to bring the Diner idea to more markets.
Tesla makes major change at Supercharger Diner amid epic demand
Of the markets that Musk has mentioned, both Palo Alto and Austin have come to be perceived as ideal selections. However, there are no concrete plans as of now to build new Supercharger Diners anywhere; the location on Santa Monica Boulevard will remain the exclusive spot to pick up Tesla-inspired eats, at least for the time being.
Investor's Corner
Tesla short sellers win big after shares fall after earnings
Tesla short sellers won big following the company’s massive fall on Wall Street after it reported subpar Earnings on Wednesday.
Tesla short sellers collected about $4.12 billion in single-day profits on Thursday, according to Bloomberg. Shares fell as much as 15 percent during Thursday’s session. It closed as one of the worst days for Tesla on Wall Street in the past three years.
Investors sold off the stock after Tesla said it would aggressively direct its spending toward AI and its Optimus robot project. The company had record revenues, which were driven by one of the strongest quarters in terms of vehicle deliveries in company history.
However, it missed EPS estimates by reporting just $0.33, a far cry from the $0.53 analysts expected.
S3 Partners reported that about 3 percent of Tesla’s outstanding stock is sold short. Managing Director at S3, Ihor Dusaniwsky, provided the short seller’s potential profit, as well as another figure: shorts have likely had paper gains of $8.92 billion this year, as Tesla shares are down 30 percent in 2026.
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla has burned short sellers many times in the past, but the company’s latest Earnings Call was a chance for those skeptics to taste some payback. Although the company gave some very transparent information regarding future projects, the rollout of Robotaxi, Optimus, and Semi, many investors took their profits on Thursday.
Notable short sellers like Michael Burry have been transparent about their skepticism around Tesla shares. Burry just revealed three weeks ago that he had opened up a new short on the stock, stating he shorted Tesla shares at $416.22. “Happy it jumped back to this level,” he said in a blog post.
At the time of publication, Tesla shares were down about 3 percent and the stock was trading at $309.92.
News
Tesla door handle saga gets its latest chapter and a big change is coming
Tesla’s long-standing saga regarding its door handles and a manual release has entered its latest chapter, and as a result, a big change is coming.
On Friday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) denied Tesla’s petition that was seeking a defect investigation into roughly 180,000 Model 3 vehicles for an issue involving the emergency mechanical door release.
🚨 The NHTSA denied a petition from Tesla that would have thrown out concerns regarding its door handles.
NHTSA said Tesla’s petition did not present evidence of a safety-related defect warranting an investigation. The agency said a rulemaking process would be a better strategy. pic.twitter.com/j6PzUBM1mT
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 24, 2026
NHTSA said that Tesla’s petition did not present evidence of a safety-related defect in the door handles or their emergency releases. Instead, the agency determined that it would rather solve the issue of the lack of labeling or location of emergency mechanical door releases and the federal safety rules that govern them.
Essentially, the NHTSA wants to create and enforce rules that would require automakers to make emergency door latch releases more clearly labeled in a car. Despite a Tesla having manual door releases on all four passenger doors, many people do not know they exist or how they work.
Tesla addresses door handle complaints with simple engineering fix
In recent times, Tesla has faced some criticism involving its door handles, specifically because some occupants have reported that they are unable to exit their vehicles after losing power. The door handles on a Tesla are electronically operated, but in the event that the 12V battery dies, there is a manual release that can be used.
The NHTSA only identified a single complaint involving the mechanical door releases: a 2022 Model 3 owner said the release was concealed and unlabeled after the vehicle lost power after a front-end collision. It has also already started to create a separate rulemaking process to make emergency door-egress systems more obvious.
It should be noted that all Teslas have mechanical emergency door releases, but they are placed in various locations as the vehicles have aged and been redesigned from year to year. Refer to the safety manual for your vehicle if you have any confusion about where the emergency releases are and how they work.