{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0481","record_version":1,"title":"NHTSA upgrades probe into Tesla Full Self-Driving over low-visibility crashes","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":51.1,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":6.0,"completeness":4.48,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":1,"reports_independent":0,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":false,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-01","history":[{"date":"2026-11-01","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"3c14881f8985143f93b82aa27fd8d9efcb2a9debe319ffaf967a43e5bd3821c8"},"system":{"model_name":"Full Self-Driving","model_version":null,"developer":"Tesla","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":null,"safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-03-19","incident_class":"physical_safety","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"third_party","summary":"NHTSA has upgraded its investigation into Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system to an Engineering Analysis covering an estimated 3,203,754 vehicles. The agency found that the system’s degradation detection fails to warn drivers when cameras are blinded by conditions such as sun glare and fog. The preliminary evaluation began in October 2024 after four crashes in reduced visibility, and the scope has since expanded to nine incidents with one fatality and one injury. NHTSA also believes Tesla’s data limitations could have led to under-reporting of crashes. Tesla began developing an update to the degradation detection system in June 2024, but NHTSA does not know when that update was deployed.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":"Degradation detection fails to warn when cameras are blinded by sun glare, fog or dust","failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null,"primary_risk":"RK18"},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"severe","severity_because":"Safety-of-life test met: the expanded scope includes one fatality and one injury","harm_class":["bodily"],"affected_description":"Estimated 3,203,754 vehicles covered by the Engineering Analysis","protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://electrek.co/2026/03/19/nhtsa-upgrades-tesla-fsd-visibility-investigation-3-2-million-vehicles/","publisher":"Electrek","date":"2026-03-19","type":"press","title":"Tesla is one step away from having to recall FSD in NHTSA visibility crash probe - Electrek","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report"}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.model_name":"C","system.developer":"C","event.root_cause_detail":"C","event.detection_method":"C","event.incident_class":"C","impact.harm_class":"C","impact.affected_description":"C","context.industry":"C","impact.severity":"D","impact.severity_because":"D","event.primary_risk":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.trigger":"D","context.country":"D","event.date_disclosed":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.model_name":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"NHTSA has escalated its investigation into Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system’s inability to handle reduced visibility conditions, upgrading the probe to an Engineering Analysis covering an estimated 3,203,754 vehicles — the step that typically precedes a recall."}],"system.developer":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"NHTSA has escalated its investigation into Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system’s inability to handle reduced visibility conditions, upgrading the probe to an Engineering Analysis covering an estimated 3,203,754 vehicles — the step that typically precedes a recall."}],"event.root_cause_detail":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The conditions involved are not exotic edge cases. We’re talking about sun glare, fog, and airborne dust — things any driver encounters regularly."}],"event.detection_method":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The agency found that FSD’s degradation detection system fails to warn drivers when cameras are blinded by common road conditions like sun glare and fog, and that Tesla may be under-reporting related crashes."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The scope has since expanded to nine total incidents with one fatality and one injury."}],"impact.harm_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The scope has since expanded to nine total incidents with one fatality and one injury."}],"impact.affected_description":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"NHTSA has escalated its investigation into Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system’s inability to handle reduced visibility conditions, upgrading the probe to an Engineering Analysis covering an estimated 3,203,754 vehicles — the step that typically precedes a recall."}],"context.industry":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The central finding is damning for Tesla’s camera-only approach to autonomous driving."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The scope has since expanded to nine total incidents with one fatality and one injury."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The scope has since expanded to nine total incidents with one fatality and one injury."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"NHTSA has escalated its investigation into Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system’s inability to handle reduced visibility conditions, upgrading the probe to an Engineering Analysis covering an estimated 3,203,754 vehicles — the step that typically precedes a recall."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The agency found that FSD’s degradation detection system fails to warn drivers when cameras are blinded by common road conditions like sun glare and fog, and that Tesla may be under-reporting related crashes."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The scope has since expanded to nine total incidents with one fatality and one injury."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"NHTSA believes this limitation “could have led to under-reporting of subject crashes over portions of the defined time-period.”"},{"source_index":0,"quote":"NHTSA notes that it still does not know when that update was actually deployed or which vehicles have received it."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"Single press source (Electrek) reporting on an NHTSA document; no primary NHTSA text was provided. The Engineering Analysis date is given only as yesterday relative to the article, so no date was assigned. No single date_occurred was given for the probe itself; the crash dates in the timeline belong to specific crashes. The 3,203,754 figure is an estimate as stated. Country US is inferred from the federal investigation wording; industry automotive is inferred from the vehicle subject. Tesla's own update is reported only as development, with no deployment date, so no remediation was recorded because no control id fits and the change is unconfirmed. No controls from the list are clearly stated as held, failed, got around or missing; the degradation detection system is not mapped to a control id. Agent fields, failure class and trigger were left out because the sources do not describe an autonomous agent or a stated trigger. Severity severe was judged on the stated fatality under the safety-of-life test. Electrek reader comments and opinion passages (including the claim about camera fogging inside the housing) were excluded as not stated facts about this incident. [case created by the backfill: read by claude-haiku-5-5, backfill-2026-11-01.2, 2026-11-01; not yet reviewed] [2026-11-01: evidence level set: Preliminary (Publisher not yet named · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":"automotive","org_size_band":null,"country":"unknown","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"went_wrong","text":"The system did not detect roadway conditions that impaired camera visibility, and alerted only immediately before the crash.","quote":"NHTSA states that in the crashes it reviewed, the system “did not detect common roadway conditions that impaired camera visibility and/or provide alerts when camera performance had deteriorated until immediately before the crash occurred.”","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"caught","text":"NHTSA found the degradation detection system fails to warn drivers when cameras are blinded, and raised under-reporting concerns.","quote":"The agency found that FSD’s degradation detection system fails to warn drivers when cameras are blinded by common road conditions like sun glare and fog, and that Tesla may be under-reporting related crashes.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"done","text":"NHTSA upgraded the probe to an Engineering Analysis, the step that typically precedes a recall.","quote":"NHTSA has escalated its investigation into Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system’s inability to handle reduced visibility conditions, upgrading the probe to an Engineering Analysis covering an estimated 3,203,754 vehicles — the step that typically precedes a recall.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://electrek.co/2026/03/19/nhtsa-upgrades-tesla-fsd-visibility-investigation-3-2-million-vehicles/"]},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"Fatal crash involving FSD and reduced visibility.","quote":"A fatal crash involving FSD and reduced visibility occurred on November 28, 2023.","source_index":0,"when":"2023-11-28"},{"text":"Tesla submitted the SGO report for the fatal crash.","quote":"Tesla submitted the required Standing General Order (SGO) report for that crash on June 27, 2024 — already seven months later.","source_index":0,"when":"2024-06-27"},{"text":"Tesla began developing an update to the degradation detection system.","quote":"The very next day, June 28, 2024, Tesla began developing an update to the degradation detection system.","source_index":0,"when":"2024-06-28"},{"text":"NHTSA launched the preliminary evaluation PE24031 after identifying four reduced-visibility crashes.","quote":"The new Engineering Analysis (EA26002), opened yesterday, upgrades the preliminary evaluation (PE24031) that NHTSA launched in October 2024 after identifying four crashes in reduced visibility conditions, including one that fatally struck a pedestrian.","source_index":0,"when":"2024-10"},{"text":"NHTSA opened Engineering Analysis EA26002, upgrading the preliminary evaluation.","quote":"The new Engineering Analysis (EA26002), opened yesterday, upgrades the preliminary evaluation (PE24031) that NHTSA launched in October 2024 after identifying four crashes in reduced visibility conditions, including one that fatally struck a pedestrian.","source_index":0,"when":null},{"text":"NHTSA does not know when the update was deployed or which vehicles received it.","quote":"NHTSA notes that it still does not know when that update was actually deployed or which vehicles have received it.","source_index":0,"when":null}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://electrek.co/2026/03/19/nhtsa-upgrades-tesla-fsd-visibility-investigation-3-2-million-vehicles/"]}}