Tesla In-Car Game Play Probe Closed By NHTSA — Agency Can Still Take Action If…

Months after Tesla Inc TSLA removed the Passenger Play functionality on its vehicles, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has closed its investigation into it.

What Happened: The agency said on Tuesday that it is closing the investigation into the driver distraction potential of the feature which allows vehicle occupants to play specific games even while the vehicle is in motion. The probe involved 580,121 2017-2022 Model 3, S, X and Y equipped with the capability.

Many drivers will disregard on-screen notifications and more affirmative controls are required to prevent non-driving tasks while the vehicle is moving, NHTSA noted. The agency also expressed concerns regarding the introduction of graphical content in the driver’s line of sight which could distract the driver.

However, “the removal of Passenger Play from the subject vehicles resolved ongoing concerns,” the agency said.

The closing of the investigation does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that no safety-related defect exists, the agency said. Further, the agency can still take action if it finds that a safety-related defect exists.

Tesla has maintained that the game is meant solely for passengers and creates no unreasonable driver distraction risk.

Why It Matters: Tesla introduced Passenger Play to some of its vehicles in December 2020. The NHTSA commenced an investigation to evaluate the functionality a year later in 2021.

Following a request by NHTSA, Tesla voluntarily disabled the capability in December 2022.

Earlier this month, Tesla restarted rolling out its Full Self-Driving Beta software to new testers months after it halted it owing to an NHTSA recall.

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