NBC News found 43 videos appearing to show sleeping drivers in moving Teslas.
Tesla update 2025.32.3 prompts include “Drowsiness detected. Stay focused with FSD.”
FSD (Supervised) sells in Canada; a 2023 attention recall covered 193,000 Canadian Teslas.
A U.S. congressman is pressing American safety regulators to act on Tesla drivers who appear to be sleeping behind the wheel with Autopilot or Full Self-Driving (FSD) engaged, and on in-car prompts that point drowsy drivers toward FSD.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Illinois) sent a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Wednesday, Sept. 9, calling on the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to take immediate action. He requested a written response by Sept. 30.
43 Videos, 17 Posted in 2026
The letter cites an NBC News investigation that identified 43 videos appearing to show people asleep in the driver’s seat of moving Teslas, including 17 posted this year. NBC News also reported footage of drivers apparently sleeping at highway speeds, using laptops and watching videos while FSD was operating.
Some drivers told NBC News they had evaded Tesla’s cabin-camera monitoring by wearing sunglasses or blocking the camera. Tesla’s own documentation states that Autopilot and FSD require active driver supervision and are not autonomous driving systems.
“DOT and NHTSA must ensure that manufacturers have adequate safeguards to prevent foreseeable misuse,” Krishnamoorthi wrote.
Tesla FSD Adoption Reaches More Than 1.48 Million Subscribers
The “Drowsiness Detected” Prompts in Update 2025.32.3
The second part of the letter targets something Tesla drivers see on their own screens.
According to a WIRED report cited in the letter, Tesla began displaying new messages with software update 2025.32.3. They include “Drowsiness detected. Stay focused with FSD” and “Lane drift detected. Let FSD assist so you can stay focused.”
Krishnamoorthi’s objection comes down to timing: the car flags a sleepy driver, then suggests a system that depends on that same driver staying alert enough to supervise it.
“Encouraging a driver whom the vehicle has detected as drowsy to ‘stay focused with FSD’ presents a fundamentally different safety question,” he wrote.
NHTSA Is Already Reviewing 3.2 Million FSD-Equipped Teslas
The letter arrives during an ongoing NHTSA engineering analysis covering approximately 3.2 million Tesla vehicles equipped with FSD. That review examines whether FSD’s degradation-detection system can recognize reduced roadway visibility and give drivers enough warning and time to respond. It identifies nine incidents, including one fatality and one injury.
The Canadian Link: 193,000 Teslas Recalled in 2023
The letter is addressed to U.S. regulators. The software at the centre of it is also sold in Canada, where FSD (Supervised) costs $99 per month and new Teslas bought directly from Tesla include a 30-day trial that switches on at delivery. Tesla Canada states the features do not make a vehicle autonomous and require a fully attentive driver.
There is precedent for U.S. findings reaching Canadian driveways. An earlier NHTSA Autopilot analysis, cited in the letter, found the system’s driver-engagement safeguards did not match its level of control over the vehicle. That investigation prompted a December 2023 recall of more than two million U.S. vehicles, and Transport Canada confirmed the same recall here, covering roughly 193,000 vehicles.
Canadian guidance already puts the burden on the person in the driver’s seat. Transport Canada states that assistance features cannot replace the driver, and Ontario’s government states the driver is responsible for any collision when these systems are in use.
Five Questions and a Sept. 30 Deadline
Krishnamoorthi wants to know whether NHTSA sees the videos as a systemic problem, what Tesla has told the agency, and how many inattention incidents involving Autopilot or FSD it has identified since Jan. 1, 2024. He also asked how the cabin camera performs when blocked or when drivers wear sunglasses, and what findings would trigger a recall.
