NHTSA upgrades safety probe into almost 159,000 Tesla vehicles

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said on Monday it was upgrading an investigation into almost 159,000 Tesla Model S and Model X vehicles due to touchscreen failures to an engineering analysis.

The auto safety regulator had started a preliminary evaluation in June.

The NHTSA said the failure can result in the loss of rear-camera image display when in reverse and decreased rear visibility when backing up, and can impact defogging ability, and audible chimes relating to Autopilot and turn signals.

Tesla has not commented on the report yet.