*

Separate probe covers 2.4 million Teslas after four

collisions,

one fatal

*

Some crash reports arrived months after those

incidents-NHTSA

(Adds no immediate comment from Tesla, more details)

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Aug 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. auto safety

agency said Thursday it would investigate Tesla's delays in

submitting crash reports involving advanced driver-assistance

systems or self-driving vehicles.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it

had identified numerous incident crash reports from Tesla that

arrived several months or more after those incidents.

The regulator requires that a report be submitted within one

to five days of a company receiving notice of a crash. In April,

the agency revised the requirements.

The safety agency said it was opening an audit query "to

evaluate the cause of the potential delays in reporting, the

scope of any such delays, and the mitigations that Tesla has

developed to address them."

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

NHTSA said that "when the reports were submitted, Tesla

submitted them in one of two ways. Many of the reports were

submitted as part of a single batch, while others were submitted

on a rolling basis."

In discussions with the company, Tesla "indicates that the

timing of the reports was due to an issue with Tesla's data

collection, which, according to Tesla, has now been fixed," the

reegulator said.

NHTSA is also reviewing whether any reports of prior

incidents remained outstanding and whether the reports that were

submitted included all of the required and available data.

Since October, NHTSA has been investigating Tesla full

self-driving collisions in reduced roadway visibility

conditions. The probe covers 2.4 million Tesla vehicles equipped

with full self-driving technology after four reported

collisions, including a 2023 fatal crash.

It separately opened an investigation in January into 2.6

million Tesla vehicles over reports of crashes involving a

feature that allows users to move their cars remotely.

NHTSA is scrutinizing Tesla's deployment of self-driving

robotaxis in Austin, Texas launched in June and said in a July 1

email to Tesla it was still reviewing the deployment and wants

to know if Tesla employees can remotely drive the vehicles.