— A Tesla sudden acceleration investigation won't be opened by federal safety regulators after they received a defect petition in March 2023.
The petition seeks a federal recall of 1.6 million 2013-2023 Tesla Model 3, Model Y, Model S and Tesla Model X vehicles.
The petition was filed by Costas Lakafossis who describes himself as a mechanical and aeronautical engineer and accident investigator from Greece.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigated the petitioner's allegations regarding Tesla sudden unintended acceleration incidents and how they are caused by pedal misapplication.
While numerous lawsuits and other actions have focused on so-called "defects" that caused alleged sudden acceleration events in Tesla vehicles, the petition is not about those purported "defects."
By the time the defect petition was filed in 2023, NHTSA had already investigated more than 200 Tesla sudden unintended acceleration events and found they were caused by drivers pressing the accelerator pedals instead of the brake pedals.
This is called pedal misapplication. In addition, NHTSA also said there was "no evidence of a design factor contributing to increased likelihood of pedal misapplication."
According to the petition to investigate, Tesla's vehicles are prone to pedal misapplication compared to vehicles from other automakers. To fix this alleged problem Tesla should recall all the vehicles and install interlock features, and Tesla should also make changes to it's driver assistance systems.
The petition claims differences in the operator controls between the all-electric Tesla vehicles and internal combustion "promote driver pedal misapplication, leading to sudden unintended acceleration (SUA) incidents."
Tesla Sudden Acceleration Defect Petition Denied
NHTSA says it reviewed the 18-page petition to recall the Tesla vehicles and analyzed Tesla's response and found no evidence of a problem that requires a federal defect investigation or a recall. The government also found no evidence that using an interlock would have prevented Tesla sudden unintended acceleration events.
According to safety regulators:
"The use of regenerative braking controlled by the accelerator pedal, or one-pedal driving, is common across most light vehicle manufacturers of electric vehicles and Tesla vehicles are not unique in this respect."