Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) reportedly presented misleading safety data to European regulators to seek approval for its Full Self-Driving (FSD) system in Europe.
Independent traffic-safety researchers have taken issue with Tesla’s self-published safety statistics, which the company has been using to advocate for its FSD system, claiming it to be up to 10 times safer than human drivers, as per a Reuters report on Monday.
Upon review, Reuters said, it discovered several invalid data comparisons in Tesla’s statistics, which seemingly “inflated” its safety claims. The company has presented these exaggerated safety figures to regulators in Sweden and the Netherlands, according to the report.
Researchers told Reuters that the figures are misleading because they rely on an unrealistic assumption that every U.S. vehicle would be replaced by a Tesla equipped with FSD technology.
The Reuters analysis also found that Tesla inflated its safety claims by comparing crash rates from FSD-triggered airbag deployments with broader U.S. accident data that includes minor collisions. It also benchmarks its vehicles against the average U.S. car, which is typically older and lacks newer safety technologies, skewing the results in Tesla’s favor.
Tesla did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comment.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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