Tesla’s recently-released yoke-style steering wheel has come under investigation from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which has now released a new statement on its investigation of the steering wheel.
Thursday, the NHTSA told Teslarati in a statement, “NHTSA is aware of the recently launched Tesla steering yoke in certain Model S vehicles. We requested and received information from Tesla about the steering yoke and we remain actively engaged with the company during our review.”
The US safety regulator continued, “NHTSA routinely engages with auto manufacturers and suppliers to better understand the new technologies and features they develop and introduce to the U.S. fleet.”
NHTSA Contacts Tesla Over ‘Yoke’ Steering Wheel in Model S/X https://t.co/CpxSAyrawi
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) February 2, 2021
The review of Tesla’s new steering wheel, designed for refreshed Model S and Model X units, has been ongoing since the design’s release in early February, though the wheel has already been announced as legal in the UK, and the NHTSA has yet to release any details as to why the wheel might not be legal in the US.
Still, the NHTSA gets the final say on vehicle safety in tandem with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS), and while anyone can look up to NHTSA’s FMVSS regulations, one would be hard-pressed to find any information about a steering yoke in there.
