Tesla’s Model 3 safety claims called ‘misleading’ by federal agency

The National Highway Transportation Safety Association has taken Tesla to task, sending the electric carmaker a cease-and-desist letter regarding Tesla’s claims about the federal agency’s safety rating of the Model 3 sedan.

The NHTSA actually sent the letter to Tesla in October, but it became public late Tuesday after PlainSite, a legal-transparency information site, posted the letter online. PlainSite said it obtained the letter via a Freedom of Information Act request.

In the fall, Tesla touted the safety rating of the Model 3, saying NHTSA’s tests showed the car had “the lowest probability of injury of all cars the safety agency has ever tested.” The NHTSA didn’t directly respond to Tesla’s comments at that time, but the agency did say that it “does not distinguish safety performance beyond (a five-star) rating, thus there is no ‘safest’ vehicle among those vehicles achieving five-star ratings.”

In its cease-and-desist letter, the NHTSA said Tesla had made “misleading statements” about how the company interpreted the association’s safety rating toward the Model 3. The agency also said that because Tesla had a track record of not holding to the association’s ratings guidelines, it was referring the matter to the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection to “investigate whether these statements constitute unfair or deceptive acts or practices.”

The NHTSA said it also sent subpoenas to Tesla seeking information on several crashes involving the company’s vehicles.

Neither Tesla nor the NHTSA immediately responded to a request for comment on the matter.