Tesla has reached a settlement for a fatal accident suit related to the Full Self-Driving (FSD, fully self-pilot) auxiliary driving system. However, civil cases are lagging behind, and investigations into the system by United States federal regulators are continuing, with corporate regulatory pressure not disappearing.

Reconciliation involved the 2023 fatal accident.

This case originated in an accident in 2023. Seventy-one-year-old Johna Story was on his way out to conduct traffic at the scene of a previous accident and was subsequently hit and killed by a Tesla Model Y. The plaintiff was the daughter of the deceased and the defendant was Tesla and the driver involved.

Bloomberg first reported that the parties had reached a settlement, but that the terms of the settlement were not made public. This settlement ended the civil action initiated by the family, without prejudice to the supervisory body ' s continued review of FSD ' s performance.

NHTSA investigation is not over.

The National Road Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the United States launched an investigation in 2024, as a result of 4 reported accidents under low-visibility conditions, including the fatal accident. The focus of the survey was to determine whether the FSD (Supervised) was able to correctly identify and respond to risks when road visibility declined.

  • The scene of the investigation included sunlight.
  • It also includes fog and air dust.
  • Incidents included in the survey sample

Upgraded to engineering analysis in March

By March 2026, the survey had been upgraded to the engineering analysis phase. NHTSA stated in the document that the available accident data gave rise to concerns that the Visibility Degradation Detection System in Tesla, whether originally deployed or subsequently updated, might not be able to identify risks in a timely manner in the event of dizziness and air cover, or fail to give proper warning to drivers.

For Tesla, this federal investigation could lead to a number of results, including recall. In addition to this investigation, NHTSA conducted a separate investigation of FSD in October 2025, as a result of reports of vehicles breaking red lights or entering the wrong lane.