Trump Considers Scrapping Crash Reporting Requirement, Is Musk Behind It?

The Trump transition team has proposed eliminating a car-crash reporting requirement opposed by Elon Musk's Tesla, according to Reuters. This move could significantly hinder the government's ability to investigate and regulate the safety of vehicles with automated-driving systems.

The recommendation to abolish the crash-reporting rule came from a transition team tasked with producing a 100-day strategy for automotive policy. The group described the measure as a mandate for excessive data collection, as shown in a document seen by Reuters.

It remains uncertain whether Musk played a role in crafting the transition-team recommendations or the likelihood that the administration would enact them. 

Tesla accounted for 40 out of 45 fatal crashes reported to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) through October 15, according to NHTSA crash data. Among the Tesla crashes investigated under the provision were a 2023 fatal accident in Virginia, where a driver using the car's Autopilot feature collided with a tractor-trailer, and a California wreck the same year where an Autopiloted Tesla hit a firetruck, killing the driver and injuring four firefighters.

NHTSA emphasized that such data is crucial for evaluating the safety of emerging automated-driving technologies. Two former NHTSA employees stated that the crash-reporting requirements were pivotal to agency investigations into Tesla's driver-assistance features, which led to 2023 recalls. Without the data, they said, NHTSA cannot easily detect crash patterns that highlight safety problems.

Since the rule was established in 2021, NHTSA has received and analyzed data on more than 2,700 crashes.  Removing the crash-reporting rule would benefit Tesla, which has reported the majority of such incidents—over 1,500—to NHTSA since the requirement's introduction. These reports have fueled federal investigations into Tesla's driver-assistance technologies, including three inquiries triggered by crash data.

Tesla's leadership has expressed dissatisfaction with the reporting requirements, believing the data presents the company unfairly. Sources familiar with Tesla's internal discussions said the automaker perceives the reports as creating a misleading impression of Tesla's safety record due to its rigorous data collection compared to competitors. However, NHTSA cautioned against using the data for direct safety comparisons between manufacturers.

In an October earnings call, Musk advocated for a unified federal approval process for autonomous vehicles, criticizing the complexity of state regulations. He also hinted at leveraging his promised role as Trump's government-efficiency czar to promote regulatory changes favorable to the industry.