Congressman Demands NHTSA Act After 43 Videos Show Tesla Drivers Asleep on FSD

Illinois Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi published a statement on Thursday demanding that the Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration explain what they're doing about drivers who sleep behind the wheel while Tesla's Full Self-Driving software is engaged. The trigger was an NBC investigation that surfaced at least 43 videos of Tesla owners apparently sleeping or otherwise checked out while their cars moved down public roads — 17 of those posted in 2026 alone.

What happened

Alongside the videos, NBC identified 13 separate cases of California drivers being cited for this kind of unsafe driving. Krishnamoorthi's letter leans on that reporting and asks NHTSA a pointed set of questions: what data has the agency collected on FSD misuse, how does it currently assess Tesla's effectiveness at deterring that misuse, and do its findings point to a broader safety defect that would justify a recall.

The timing matters because NHTSA already has an open investigation covering roughly 3.2 million FSD-equipped Teslas in a separate probe. A second line of inquiry aimed specifically at driver monitoring would widen the scope considerably.

Perhaps the most uncomfortable detail in the NBC piece came from a California owner who agreed to be interviewed only if his last name was withheld — because he knew he was breaking the law. He admitted he sleeps while FSD is active, and framed it as a natural consequence of the software getting better.

"As it's gotten better, the taboo has fallen away." — an anonymous California Tesla owner, speaking to NBC

Why it matters

Tesla's own user manual is unambiguous: FSD and Autopilot are Level 2 driver assistance, the driver must stay engaged, and the driver remains responsible for the car. The company backs that up with safeguards — the cabin camera watches eye and head movement, the system senses steering wheel input, and it escalates prompts when it thinks attention has drifted.

The problem is that owners have spent years finding ways around all of it. Some just wear sunglasses so the camera can't read their eyes. Others prop a doll head or a printed photo of themselves in front of the cabin-facing lens. There are workarounds that don't involve the camera at all. Every one of them violates Tesla's terms and the law.

Tesla is also walking a commercial tightrope here. Nag too little and drivers disengage entirely; nag too much and they stop paying for a feature that runs $99 per month and is tied to the CEO's trillion-dollar pay package. The open question regulators are now circling is whether Tesla's current detection methods are reasonable, or whether the automaker owes drivers stricter policing of its own software.

What this means for EV owners

Let's be clear about where we stand: ePlugKit does not sell, and will not sell, anything designed to defeat driver monitoring. Steering wheel weights and camera blockers put you, your passengers, and everyone sharing the road at risk — and they're precisely the behavior that could get useful driver-assistance features restricted for everyone.

What actually helps is removing the small distractions that pull your eyes off the road in the first place:

• Mount your phone where you can see it. A fixed screen-side or vent mount means you never go fishing for a sliding device mid-drive.
• Seal the seat gaps. Gap fillers keep phones, cards, and keys from vanishing into the crevice beside the console.
• Charge wirelessly. No dangling cable means nothing dragging your phone onto the floor.
• Keep the cabin organized. Console trays and organizers stop loose items from rolling around under braking.

You'll find fitment-specific versions of all of these for Highland, Juniper, and every current Tesla in our shop by vehicle collection, plus dedicated Model 3 and Model Y pages.

The bottom line

Drivers are unquestionably responsible for staying awake and in control — nobody at NHTSA or in Congress is arguing otherwise. But 43 videos is no longer a handful of outliers, and a congressman asking about recall authority is a signal that the cat-and-mouse era of nag defeat is drawing federal attention. Use the assist, keep your hands on the wheel and your eyes up, and set your cabin up so you're never tempted to look away.