Aug 21 (Reuters) - The National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration said Thursday it is opening an investigation into

delays in Tesla reports of crashes involving advanced driver

assistance systems or self-driving vehicles.

The auto safety agency said it has identified numerous

incident reports submitted by Tesla in which reported crashes

occurred several months or more before the dates of the reports,

while the agency required a report to be submitted within one or

five days of Tesla receiving notice of the crash. NHTSA said it

is 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."