WASHINGTON — Tesla Inc. has submitted a partial response to NHTSA’s info request in an investigation of the electrical car maker’s choice to permit video video games to be performed on the infotainment system whereas its autos are in movement.
NHTSA mentioned Tesla’s response “has been obtained and is being reviewed,” in line with a March 7 memo posted Tuesday to the company’s web site.
Tesla has requested “confidential enterprise info remedy for the whole lot of the data request submission,” the memo states, so it’s unclear what info, or how a lot, was submitted.
NHTSA in December opened the investigation into an estimated 580,000 Tesla Mannequin 3, Mannequin S, Mannequin X and Mannequin Y autos from the 2017 to 2022 mannequin years which might be outfitted with the Passenger Play function, which permits gameplay to perform on the entrance heart contact display whereas the car is being pushed.
The company’s Workplace of Defects Investigation opened the formal security probe to guage the function’s driver-distraction potential.
Tesla shortly after pulled the plug on the feature and instructed NHTSA it would cease permitting video games to be performed on the middle contact display whereas the car is being pushed.
In January, NHTSA despatched a letter to Tesla seeking more information to help its investigation, together with any shopper complaints; reviews involving a crash, harm or fatality; and lawsuits that may relate to the function.
The company additionally requested Tesla to furnish a chronology of occasions and research supporting its choice to deploy after which revoke the in-vehicle gaming functionality.
Tesla wanted to reply by March 4, or it may have confronted civil penalties of as much as practically $115 million.
