The NHTSA’s Standing General Order: Tracking Self-Driving Crashes
Since 2021, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has required the manufacturers of self-driving systems to report crashes involving their technologies. This policy is part of the Standing General Order on Crash Reporting, designed to track real-world safety data and hold companies accountable for their self-driving systems.
This reporting offers helpful insight into how self-driving technology behaves in real-world conditions. However, as I began to review the NHTSA self-driving crash data for myself, I noticed something strange:
Tesla has requested a redaction on every crash report involving their self-driving technology.
While most automakers provide narrative details, like system activation times, disengagement moments, and crash conditions, Tesla’s reports are heavily redacted, with the same phrase appearing repeatedly in the narrative entry:
“[REDACTED, MAY CONTAIN CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION]”
Tesla’s competitors, like General Motors (who offers Super Cruise) and Ford (who offers BlueCruise), submit reports with at least some publicly accessible narrative data. These typically include timestamps, cause-of-crash breakdowns, and disengagement details. Tesla? A wall of black ink.
Chilling Self-Driving Crashes are Hidden Behind the Redactions
Even with Tesla’s redactions, some crash details remain visible in the unredacted data. By matching those details with local news reports, we can get a clearer picture of the circumstances behind these crashes.
Take a recent self-driving fatality report from January 2025. The NHTSA report shows a 2024 Tesla Model 3 crashed in San Francisco, striking a tree or pole. The posted speed limit was 35 mph, but the Tesla’s final recorded speed was 59 mph.
That appears to match this crash on Christmas Day 2024, where a Tesla veered off the road, collided with a tree, and caught fire. Tragically, the driver was trapped inside as firefighters were unable to rescue them. The public news coverage makes no mention of the Tesla being in self-driving mode, even though it appears in government filings.
It’s not hard to see why Tesla wants these narratives hidden from the public record, and I don’t think it has anything to do with protecting trade secrets. This fatal crash has received almost zero media attention as an unremarkable and unexplained single-car accident, rather than another data point in a troubling trend for their self-driving technology.
629 Tesla Self-Driving Crashes, All Redacted
After deduplicating the NHTSA crash reports by VIN number, we identified 629 crashes involving Tesla self-driving technology since 2021.
All reported Tesla self-driving accidents have fully redacted Narrative sections. Also fully redacted are the “ADAS/ADS System Version,” which would be helpful information for consumers looking to avoid dangerous software. Independent researchers could also use that data to measure system safety improvements over time.
How NHTSA Self-Driving Crash Redactions Work
The redactions appear to be a pattern of behavior by Tesla. The NHTSA allows manufacturers to request confidentiality for specific types of data, but Tesla stands alone in seeking full narrative redaction on hundreds of crashes.
That is not how this is supposed to work. The NHTSA chief counsel should be reviewing the redaction requests and making a judgement call, not just offering Tesla blanket immunity from scrutiny. From the NHTSA’s explanation of the redaction process:
“Confidential business information requests have been made by multiple reporting entities for five data fields available to the public: ADAS / ADS System Version, ADAS / ADS Hardware Version, ADAS / ADS Software Version, Was vehicle within its ODD [operational design domain] at the time of the incident? and Narrative. Information received by NHTSA, for which a properly filed confidentiality request is submitted, will be kept confidential until the chief counsel makes a determination regarding its confidentiality.”
The data is still available to the NHTSA, but it’s kept from public review, where you or I could analyze it. Journalists could connect the dots, such as in the crash detailed above, that self-driving technology was active at the time of the crash. That data would almost certainly lead to greater public scrutiny, because as it stands, that crash received scant coverage in the local press as a typical car accident story.
Considering the multiple active federal investigations into Tesla’s self-driving technology, it’s hard not to wonder what the company is trying to keep hidden.
What a Typical Narrative Crash Report Looks Like
To highlight how unusual Tesla’s redactions are, let’s compare a typical crash report from General Motors’ Super Cruise system.
A GMC Sierra narrative crash report, available in the NHTSA database, reads as follows:
“On December [XXX], 2024, a 2023 GMC Sierra was travelling south on [XXX] in Houston, Texas with Super Cruise engaged and active. According to OnStar audio recordings, a Camaro swerved in front of the Sierra, causing the Sierra to hit the Camaro. Crash data indicates frontal airbags and front seatbelt pretensioners deployed. The driver was wearing a seatbelt at the time of crash. According to telematics data, at approximately 4 seconds prior to the crash, Super Cruise entered an Override state due to hand placement on the steering wheel and detection of steering wheel torque. At approximately 1 second prior to crash, Super Cruise entered Disabled/Not Ready state due to a brake pedal press.”
Compare that to hundreds of narrative Tesla crash reports that read:
“[REDACTED, MAY CONTAIN CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION]”
GMC provides narrative details on system activation, driver intervention, and exact crash conditions. Tesla? Nothing.
Big-Picture Context: Tesla’s War on Reporting
Tesla has aggressively lobbied against crash reporting transparency. The company argues that reporting requirements unfairly target Tesla, because Tesla allegedly collects more driving data than other manufacturers.
That argument seems to have resonated with the Trump administration, who coincidentally count on Elon Musk as a major donor and high-profile cheerleader, and now as the maybe-or-maybe-not chief of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
At the same time, the NHTSA remains actively investigating Tesla’s self-driving systems, raising further concerns about safety.
Final Thoughts: What is Underneath Those Redactions?
Self-driving crashes should be a matter of public record, so that consumers can make informed decisions about what technologies they trust on the road.
After all, that’s the whole purpose of the NHTSA.
From Transportation.gov: “The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is the agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation that works to reduce deaths and injuries and economic costs due to motor vehicle crashes.“
The fact that Tesla has requested redactions on every single crash report raises serious concerns.
I’m left with uncomfortable questions, like:
- Is the system less safe than Tesla claims?
- Are the reports hiding evidence of malfunctions or failures?
- If self-driving is so safe, why not let the data speak for itself?
Tesla clearly does not want the public to know how its self-driving systems perform in real-world crashes. With DOGE’s recent employee firing spree gutting the NHTSA’s self-driving office and other functions, it is more important than ever for journalists and the public to keep scrutinizing the available data.
The crashes are happening. The information is out there. The stories are just buried under a mountain of redactions.
Update from the Editor’s Desk: As you folks know, we’re a car and comedy magazine here at FuelArc News. We cover serious news only infrequently, and only when events demand it or when the stories fall into our lap. It bugs me at a basic level that Tesla has requested redaction of details for all of their self-driving car crashes since 2021. So I think we’ll sit down and link up each fatal Tesla self-driving crash with the local news reporting around the events, and see what sort of picture that paints. That’ll show us what Tesla was looking to hide with those redaction requests. I got nothing but time, we’ll get it done. Stay tuned. – Kay Leadfoot.
