Reuters: Tesla allegedly padded safety data to win approval for semi-autonomous driving

A Reuters investigation published in Europe says Tesla may have used misleading safety data to secure approvals for its Full Self-Driving, or FSD, system, even as Israel’s transport minister, Miri Regev, has been telling Tesla owners the technology could soon be allowed in Israel. Reuters says the data Tesla presented to Dutch regulators, data that could become the basis for future European approvals and later apply in Israel, was exaggerated and deceptive.

According to the report, based on correspondence obtained by the news agency, Tesla portrayed its FSD safety record in Europe as better than it really was in order to persuade the Dutch transport ministry to approve the system. That approval, Reuters says, would help Tesla expand FSD deployment across Europe. Tesla did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

After securing the Dutch approval, Tesla reportedly approached regulators in Sweden seeking similar authorization. In one presentation obtained by Reuters, Tesla claimed that a car equipped with FSD and driven on U.S. roads could travel seven times farther than a human-driven car without causing a single crash. The company also said the system could prevent about 32,000 deaths and 1.9 million injuries.

Reuters says those figures were selectively constructed. The investigation says Tesla counted only crashes in which airbags deployed, even though many crashes in the U.S. do not trigger airbags. It also says Tesla compared its cars with older vehicles on U.S. roads that lack modern safety equipment, making Tesla’s cars appear safer by comparison. That framing, Reuters says, creates the misleading impression that active FSD cars are involved in far fewer accidents.