The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) sent a cease-and-desist letter to Tesla Inc last year for not complying with the agency’s guidelines in its Model 3 safety assertions and subpoenaed the carmaker for information on several crashes, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
The auto safety agency's letter said that Tesla's blog from October last year about Model 3 having the lowest probability of injury of any vehicle ever tested by NHTSA was inconsistent with the agency's usage guidelines, Bloomberg reported, citing documents released by legal transparency group PlainSite.
"This is not the first time that Tesla has disregarded the guidelines in a manner that may lead to consumer confusion and give Tesla an unfair market advantage," Bloomberg quoted NHTSA Chief Counsel Jonathan Morrison as saying in an Oct. 17 letter addressed to Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk.
Tesla did not immediately respond to multiple requests for comment by phone and email. NHTSA also did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.