Tesla Vehicles Don't Suffer From Unintended Acceleration, NHTSA Says

In 2020, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigated Tesla Inc TSLA over reports of unintended acceleration — supposed times where vehicles would accelerate without the accelerator pedal being used. At the time, Tesla released a statement, saying the allegation was brought on by a short seller.

Now, as covered by Tesmanian, NHTSA said it has rejected the petition to review 662,000 Tesla vehicles. The organization claims there is no evidence that vehicles accelerate without user input.

"There is no evidence of any fault in the accelerator pedal assemblies, motor control systems, or brake systems that has contributed to any of the cited incidents," according to NHTSA. "There is no evidence of a design factor contributing to increased likelihood of pedal misapplication."

NHTSA also says there's nothing about the build of a Tesla vehicle that would make it more likely for a driver to press the wrong pedal. This essentially means any accelerations that result in a crash are the fault of the driver.

This was seen in Toyota vehicles back in 2007, when it was determined the floor mats had a high probability of causing the accelerator pedal to accidentally be pressed.