--- description: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is happy with the electric car company after it agreed to install more shields underneath its vehicles to prevent roadway debris from damaging its batteries and sparking fires title: Feds Close Tesla Investigation image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe84fffa4e670238/698687ca55a8593c59a7ffb5/tesla.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Automotive](/tag/automotive/) ## Automotive Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Feds Close Tesla Investigation  by [Denver Nicks](/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 28, 2014 2:00 PM CUT  A Model S with sits on display at the Tesla store in the Short Hills Mall in Short Hills, NJ, Wednesday, March 12, 2014. A Model S with sits on display at the Tesla store in the Short Hills Mall in Short Hills, NJ, Wednesday, March 12, 2014.Emile Wamsteker—Bloomberg/Getty Images  by [Denver Nicks](/author/denver-nicks/)  ## Denver Nicks Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 28, 2014 2:00 PM CUT The United States’ federal highway safety regulator has [closed](http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchResults?searchType=ID&targetCategory=I&searchCriteria.nhtsa%5Fids=PE13037 "undefined") its investigation into battery fires in Tesla’s Model S electric cars. “A defect trend has not been identified,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in its report this week. The regulator opened the investigation after three battery fires last year raised questions about the vehicle’s safety. The NHTSA said Tesla has made sufficient design tweaks to “reduce the frequency of underbody strikes and the resultant fire risk.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/41630/tesla-model-s-investigation/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/41630/tesla-model-s-investigation/"},"headline":"Feds Close Tesla Investigation","datePublished":"2014-03-28T14:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:01:19.103Z","description":"The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is happy with the electric car company after it agreed to install more shields underneath its vehicles to prevent roadway debris from damaging its batteries and sparking fires","url":"https://time.com/41630/tesla-model-s-investigation/","keywords":["Automotive","Elon Musk","Tesla","safety"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe84fffa4e670238/698687ca55a8593c59a7ffb5/tesla.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Denver Nicks","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/denver-nicks/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbe84fffa4e670238/698687ca55a8593c59a7ffb5/tesla.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Christie Appointees Ban N.J. Direct Sales for Musk's Tesla Cars","caption":"Christie Appointees Ban N.J. Direct Sales for Musk's Tesla Cars","creditText":"Emile Wamsteker—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/automotive/","name":"Automotive"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/41630/tesla-model-s-investigation/","name":"Feds Close Tesla Investigation"}}]}] ```