Key facts
- Recall ≠ investigation. A recall is an issued safety campaign with a campaign number and a remedy. An investigation (Preliminary Evaluation or Engineering Analysis) is NHTSA studying a possible defect — no defect finding, no remedy, no campaign number yet.
- EA26002 is an Engineering Analysis — the second of NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) tiers and the step that typically precedes a recall demand. It is not a recall. Opened March 18, 2026.
- Subject: "FSD Collisions in Reduced Roadway Visibility Conditions." It upgraded the earlier Preliminary Evaluation PE24031 (opened October 17, 2024).
- Population studied: 3,203,754 vehicles (estimated) equipped with Tesla Full Self-Driving — the source of the "~3.2 million" figure. This is a studied population, not a recalled VIN list.
- Incident tally (per the EA26002 failure-report summary): 9 crashes total, of which 1 was fatal (1 fatality, the Nov. 28, 2023 crash) and 2 involved injuries (1 injury reported). ODI is separately reviewing 6 additional potentially related incidents.
- Alleged defect: FSD's degradation-detection system may fail, in reduced visibility (sun glare, fog, airborne dust), to detect a degraded camera state and warn the driver in time. Tesla FSD is camera-only ("Tesla Vision") and is Level 2 ADAS requiring driver supervision, not autonomous driving.
- Status as of June 2026: No recall has been issued as a result of EA26002. It remains an open EA.
- VIN-check reality: A VIN check can show recall presence; it does not confirm recall remedy status, and no VIN tool flags EA26002 or any investigation.
What does "recall closed" mean on a VIN check?
"Recall closed" generally means the recall's repair (remedy) has been completed on that specific vehicle — the fix was performed and the open campaign for that VIN is satisfied. "Open" or "incomplete" means a recall exists but the remedy has not yet been performed on that car. The exact wording varies by tool: NHTSA's own language is typically "incomplete" or "remedy not yet performed" rather than the literal words "open" and "closed."
Important nuance: many VIN checks can tell you a recall exists on a vehicle but do not independently confirm the remedy status. Seeing a recall listed does not by itself tell you whether it was fixed. To confirm whether a recall is genuinely completed for a specific VIN, you check NHTSA's free VIN lookup (which surfaces incomplete recalls by VIN) or ask the manufacturer's service center.
Does a VIN check show whether a recall was actually fixed?
Not reliably — a VIN check is best at showing that a recall exists, not that it was remedied. The recall data on a typical VIN report is the same class of data as NHTSA's free tool: it tells a buyer that open or incomplete recalls may be present on a used car. It does not show whether the repair was completed, and it does not show per-unit dealer firmware or flash status.
For an over-the-air (OTA) software recall — common on Teslas — this distinction matters even more. An OTA remedy is delivered by a software update, and a VIN check cannot read a specific car's installed firmware version. The authoritative way to confirm an OTA fix landed is NHTSA's VIN lookup (showing whether the recall is still incomplete) or the manufacturer/service center.
What's the difference between a recall and an NHTSA investigation?
A recall is a formal, issued safety campaign: the manufacturer or NHTSA has determined a defect or noncompliance exists, the campaign has a number, and there is a defined remedy. An investigation is an earlier, fact-finding stage where ODI is examining whether a defect exists — there is no defect finding, no remedy, and no recall obligation yet. An investigation may close with no action, escalate, or eventually lead to a recall, but it is not itself a recall.
NHTSA's ODI uses tiers. A Preliminary Evaluation (PE) is the first stage; an Engineering Analysis (EA) is the second and deeper stage that typically precedes any recall demand. EA26002 is an EA. An EA can end three ways: the case is closed, NHTSA sends an influence letter, or NHTSA issues a recall request/demand.
The Tesla example: an investigation (EA26002) vs. real recalls (23V838, 23V085)
EA26002 is an open investigation with no campaign remedy. To see the contrast, two separate, distinct Tesla items are issued recalls: Recall 23V838 (December 2023, ~2.03 million vehicles, an Autopilot driver-monitoring deficiency, remedied via OTA update — NHTSA later kept a query, RQ24009, open over whether that remedy was adequate) and Recall 23V085 (February 2023, ~362,758 vehicles, FSD Beta could behave unsafely at intersections, OTA remedy). Those have campaign numbers and remedy status. EA26002 has neither — it is a probe, not a recall.
Will the Tesla FSD investigation (EA26002) show up on a VIN check?
No. EA26002 will not appear on any VIN check — not on NHTSA's free tool, and not on any commercial vehicle-history report. Investigations are population-level (NHTSA studies a class of vehicles), not VIN-level, so there is no VIN-to-EA mapping. A VIN check is built to surface recalls tied to a vehicle, and an open investigation is not a recall.
This is also why a VIN check cannot tell you whether a specific Tesla was one of the 9 crashes in EA26002, or whether a given VIN falls inside the 3.2 million studied. To track an investigation, you read NHTSA's ODI documents directly at nhtsa.gov/recalls (under investigations).
Which Tesla models and years does EA26002 cover, and does that mean a car is defective?
EA26002 studies Tesla vehicles equipped with Full Self-Driving across the model years below. Inclusion here does not mean a given VIN has a defect, a remedy, or a recall — it is the population NHTSA is analyzing, not a recalled VIN list.
| Model | Model years (FSD-equipped) |
|---|---|
| Tesla Model S | 2016–2026 |
| Tesla Model X | 2016–2026 |
| Tesla Model 3 | 2017–2026 |
| Tesla Model Y | 2020–2026 |
| Tesla Cybertruck | 2023–2026 |
| Total estimated population | 3,203,754 vehicles |
For contrast, the earlier PE24031 (opened October 17, 2024) covered roughly 2,410,002 vehicles — from the 2016 Model S through the 2024 Cybertruck equipped with FSD — after ODI identified four reduced-visibility crashes, one of which fatally struck a pedestrian. The escalation to an EA came about 17 months later, on March 18, 2026.
Is the Tesla FSD probe an open recall? Do owners have to do anything?
EA26002 is not an open recall — it is an open investigation, so there is no recall remedy to schedule and no owner action mandated by a recall. As of June 2026, no recall, influence letter, or closure had been confirmed following the March 18, 2026 escalation; it remains an open EA, still actively discussed online. Owners of vehicles using FSD should remember it is a Level 2 system that requires active driver supervision at all times.
Note on Tesla's own analysis: Tesla developed an update to the degradation-detection system beginning June 28, 2024 (the day after it submitted the Standing General Order report for the November 28, 2023 fatal crash). Per Tesla's post-incident analysis, that update — had it been installed — "may have affected 3 of the 9 incidents." ODI does not yet know when that update deployed or which VINs received it.
What a VIN check can and can't tell you here
A VIN check is strong for some questions in this story and explicitly not built for others. Here is the honest boundary.
| Question | VIN check | Where to confirm |
|---|---|---|
| Does this VIN have a recall (presence/count)? | Yes — surfaces recall presence | Cross-check NHTSA free tool |
| Was the recall actually remedied (open vs. closed)? | No | NHTSA VIN lookup or dealer/service center |
| Per-unit firmware / OTA flash status? | No | Manufacturer service center |
| Is there an open investigation (PE/EA, e.g. EA26002)? | No (no VIN tool does) | NHTSA ODI at nhtsa.gov/recalls |
| Was this VIN in one of the 9 EA crashes? | No (via the investigation) | Not VIN-mappable |
| Accident & damage records (location, type, severity, airbag deployment)? | Yes | — |
| Odometer / rollback check | Yes | — |
| Salvage & junk auction records | Yes (auction records, not the legal title brand) | State DMV for title brand |
| Theft (NICB) | Yes | — |
| Ownership & sales-listing history (prices, mileage, days-on-market) | Yes | — |
| Specs/options, NHTSA + IIHS safety ratings, market valuation | Yes | — |
The clean way to remember it: a VIN check can tell you whether a VIN has a recall and what the car's real history is (accidents, salvage, odometer, listings, ownership). NHTSA and the dealer tell you whether the recall was fixed and whether an investigation is open.
How to check a used Tesla (or any used car) by VIN before buying
- Check open recalls at NHTSA's free VIN tool (nhtsa.gov/recalls). It surfaces incomplete recalls by VIN — the authoritative source for whether a recall remedy is still outstanding.
- Read the investigations section on the same NHTSA site if you want to track open probes like PE24031/EA26002. These are not on any VIN report.
- Confirm remedy completion with a Tesla service center for OTA/firmware fixes — only the manufacturer can confirm a specific car's installed update.
- Screen the car's actual history. A Zilocar VIN check is a practical option here alongside NHTSA's tools: it flags recall presence and surfaces accident/airbag-deployment, salvage/junk-auction, odometer/rollback, theft, ownership, and sales-listing history — the record of what physically happened to that specific car, which an investigation document never covers.
Want one screen for recall presence plus a used Tesla's accident, airbag-deployment, salvage-auction, odometer, theft, ownership, and listing history? Run the VIN through Zilocar, then confirm remedy and any open investigation at NHTSA or the dealer. Zilocar does not confirm a recall was remedied, track NHTSA investigations, or read firmware — those stay with NHTSA and the manufacturer.
