Tesla's FSD Safety Data Controversy: What European Regulators Are Hiding

Four months ago, the Netherlands approved Tesla's Full Self-Driving system for use on its roads. Since then, the Dutch regulator, RDW, has been advocating for the system's adoption across the European Union. But the regulator won't tell the public why it concluded the system is safe or how it evaluated the technology.

Releasing such details would violate Tesla's commercial secrets, the regulator told Reuters, echoing the automaker's own demands for confidentiality. Since late 2024, Tesla has pressed RDW to keep documentation about the FSD safety review secret, according to email correspondence obtained through a public records request.

Tesla has called FSD approval key to boosting sales in Europe, where it is trying to regain market share lost in recent years and faces fierce competition from Chinese EV makers. European regulators have historically been more cautious about automated driving than the United States, requiring automakers to get approval before deploying driver-assistance systems such as FSD.

The Flawed Safety Data Tesla Presented

In its push for approval, Tesla presented self-published safety statistics to regulators in Sweden and the Netherlands that independent traffic-safety researchers have called misleading marketing. A Reuters investigation found several invalid data comparisons underlying Tesla's statistics that exaggerated its safety claims.

One of the most striking claims was that FSD could have saved 32,000 lives and prevented 1.9 million injuries. Researchers said those figures are highly misleading because they are based on the unrealistic assumption that every vehicle in the United States, including freight trucks and crash-prone motorcycles, would be replaced by an FSD-enabled Tesla. The claim also assumes every Tesla is at least seven times safer than the vehicle it replaces.

Tesla has also exaggerated the technology's safety by comparing a rate of crashes in FSD-piloted Teslas that triggered airbag deployments to a US crash rate for all vehicles that includes far less severe accidents. The company also compares its cars to the average US vehicle, which is much older than the average Tesla. That distorts the results because automakers have gradually introduced new safety features that reduce crashes over time.

The European Transport Safety Council expressed concern that Tesla presented "unreliable safety data" to regulators. If Tesla wants to make safety claims, the company should "give the data to a university, have it independently verified by a qualified researcher, and then let's talk," a spokesperson said.

The Regulator's Response: Secrecy and Silence

RDW said it did not rely on Tesla's statistics and conducted its own "extensive testing" on closed tracks and public roads in various conditions. However, the agency has not specified how it measured performance or safety, and it declined to say whether it assessed Tesla's US safety statistics.

The regulator told Reuters that releasing testing details would violate Tesla's commercial secrets and did not explain how details of its testing or conclusions about the system's performance could reveal commercially sensitive information.

European vehicle-safety law experts say RDW is withholding too much information under the guise of trade secrets, potentially at the expense of public safety. Oliver Carsten, a transportation-safety professor at the University of Leeds who has been involved in crafting European automated-driving regulations, said details on RDW's testing and Tesla's performance are matters of broad public interest.

Frank Mutze of the European Transport Safety Council said the public is left to trust that authorities "have done their homework, which of course isn't good enough for us."

The EU Vote: Will It Pass?

RDW is now seeking EU approval for FSD, which requires a "yes" vote from representatives of 55% of member states that make up 65% of the bloc's population. A vote could happen as early as October 2026.

Belgium became the fifth EU state to approve FSD in June, following the Netherlands, Lithuania, Estonia, and Denmark. All five are smaller or mid-sized markets rather than the three countries that actually decide the bloc-wide vote. Germany, France, and Italy each hold effective veto power under the Commission's thresholds, and each has separately raised concerns about whether FSD's US-trained data applies well to European cyclists, motorcyclists, and dense urban roads.

Sweden has recommended voting against FSD unless the "Speed Offset" feature, which allows the vehicle to exceed posted speed limits, is removed. Finland is also assessing the speed offset feature alongside driver takeover capabilities and low-visibility overtaking.

A Pattern of Secrecy

Tesla has a history of trying to shield information it gives regulators. In the United States, it petitions federal safety regulators to redact basic details about every crash involving its driver-assistance systems. It is the only self-driving operator in the NHTSA database that redacts crash-report narratives entirely.

Regulators in six European countries, including Germany, Norway, and Denmark, have told Reuters they cannot release FSD testing data because of concerns about trade secrets. Norway's Public Roads Administration noted that Tesla's figures are "self-produced," making it "difficult to find correlation with the authorities' accident statistics."

Why This Matters

Tesla's sales plummeted in Europe last year amid protests over Elon Musk's political activities, and the company is trying to regain market share as Chinese EV makers make steady inroads in the region. FSD approval is key to Tesla's vehicle sales growth in Europe, but the secrecy surrounding the approval process raises troubling questions about whether regulators can trust the data automakers provide.

The October vote will be a test of whether regulators will approve FSD based on secret testing or demand transparency. Until then, consumers in Europe will have to trust that the authorities "have done their homework."

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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not constitute legal or financial advice. The author is not affiliated with Tesla, the NHTSA, or any of the regulatory bodies mentioned.