Denial of Motor Vehicle Defect Petition

Transportation Department, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Mon, 30 Mar 2026 04:00:00 GMT

This notice sets forth the reasons for the denial of a defect petition submitted by Costas Lakafossis ("Petitioner") to NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) requesting that the Agency recall all Tesla vehicle models produced from 2013 to the present due to what the Petitioner considers to be the increased likelihood of pedal misapplication. According to Petitioner, the differences in the operator controls between the subject Tesla vehicles and internal combustion engine (ICE) powered vehicles promote driver pedal misapplication, leading to sudden unintended acceleration (SUA) incidents. Having reviewed the information submitted by Petitioner and Tesla, as well as data within its own files, NHTSA has denied the petition because the conditions described therein do not indicate the presence of a safety defect in the subject vehicles.