Recent Tesla news revealed that the company is being investigated by the SEC for possible securities-law breach. This comes after another one of their cars has crashed for the third time in two weeks.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission is conducting an investigation on whether Tesla Motors Inc. has breached securities law. The company has allegedly failed to disclose to investors a fatal crash in May which involved the autopilot feature of their electric car.
The accident on May 7 killed the driver Joshua Brown, 40, after his Tesla car crashed with an 18-wheel semi-truck on a Florida highway. The company alerted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to the crash.
An investigation was made back then to determine whether the driver was using Tesla's autopilot system. However, Tesla did not disclose the crash to investors in a securities filing.
The SEC's investigation will show whether Tesla should have stated the accident as a "material" event or a development that would be important for investors. A source told the publication that the inquiry is at its early stages and may not result to any enforcement action.
"Tesla has not received any communication from the SEC regarding this issue," a spokesperson for the company said. "Our blog post last week provided the relevant information about this issue."
In the blog post, Tesla wrote that the crash was the first in more than 130 million miles driven using their autopilot system. The technology made its debut in October last year.
According to the Detroit Free Press, another one of Tesla's electric car has been involved in a car crash recently. A Tesla Model X driver and his passenger were able to escape unscathed in a one-vehicle accident early Sunday morning near Whitehall, Mont.
The driver claimed that he activated the car's autopilot driver assist system at the beginning of the trip. The accident occurred when the Tesla car began to veer to the right of a sharp drop-off from the two-lane Highway 55 where it hit a wooden guardrail.
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