Tesla has less than two months to respond to inquiries from U.S. auto safety regulators about its December Recall of more than 2 million electric vehicles.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has given Elon Musk’s electric vehicle maker a July 1 deadline to answer a series of questions related to the recall issued over a safety problem in the Autopilot driver assistance software.
The federal agency announced last month that a Probe to study effectiveness of the over-the-air software update that Tesla released to fix the problem. In the months after the recall was published, NHTSA tracked at least 20 crashes involving vehicles that had received Tesla’s update.
The regulator asked Tesla how many miles consumers logged using Autopilot and how many “hands-on-wheel” warnings were displayed between January 2021 and December 2023, according to one letter posted on the NHTSA website on Tuesday and first reported from Bloomberg.
They also asked Tesla for details about the role of the cabin camera in ensuring the driver is keeping an eye on the road, as well as the size of alerts and driver notifications. If Tesla fails to respond to NHTSA in a timely manner, it could face penalties of $27,168 per day and a maximum fine of $135.8 million.
The recall request is just the latest NHTSA investigation into Tesla’s driver assistance software, which has been under intense scrutiny since August 2021. The regulator has opened more than 50 special accident investigations into Tesla vehicles believed to be related to Autopilot.
The software has been linked more than 200 accidents and 29 deaths. NHTSA determined that Autopilot did not adequately require the driver’s attention.
In December, Tesla said Autopilot controls “may not be sufficient to prevent driver abuse” and could increase the risk of accidents. The company said it disagrees with NHTSA but will “incorporate additional controls and warnings to the controls already in place on affected vehicles” to encourage drivers to remain focused on the road.
However, Consumer Reports said the software update made it easier for drivers to become distracted. Tesla has increased the size of alerts and driver notifications, which can get drivers’ attention off-road.
“In addition, the vehicle did not restrict the use of Autopilot or warn to pay attention when we covered the camera and left one hand on the steering wheel,” he said the nonprofit said in its reportand noted that “the driver could be asleep or completely distracted and the car would not warn him as long as he is holding the steering wheel.”
In addition to scrutiny from NHTSA and auto safety groups, the automaker has also done so False advertising is alleged from the California Department of Motor Vehicles and examined from the Attorney General’s Office over its marketing practices related to driver assistance software. The U.S. Department of Justice has also issued subpoenas related to Tesla’s fully self-driving technology.
This article originally appeared on quartz.