Regulators close investigation into Tesla's Passenger Play touch screen gaming

May 30 (UPI) -- Regulators from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Tuesday they have closed an investigation into whether or not Tesla's on-board video game system poses a distracted driving risk.

The NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation said closing the investigation "does not constitute" a finding "that no safety-related defect exists," and does not preclude it from taking further action in the future.

Tesla has maintained throughout that its Passenger Play feature, which was available through the touch screen in the front console of a vehicle, "was designed for passenger use only and the design creates no unreasonable driver distraction risk."

The electric vehicle maker later disabled the system through a software update while the ODI investigation was conducted.

Regulators first started looking at the system in 2021 to determine if it posed an increased risk of a crash. The affected Tesla Model 3, S, X, and Y vehicles from 2017 through 2022 represented more than half a million total EVs.

The report found Tesla's own data did show trips where the system was being used with nobody occupying the passenger seat.

Initially, Passenger Play would only work while the vehicle was in park. Tesla changed that in December of 2020, allowing it to be used by passengers when being driven. That raised concerns from regulators that it could pose a distraction to drivers, taking their attention from the road.

"While ODI acknowledges Tesla's decision to repeal Passenger Play, analysis of the data provided through Tesla's Information Request (IR) response produced significant concerns about driver distraction during the time that it was available, both with Passenger Play's intended use by a passenger and its misuse (operation by the driver," the report reads.

"The removal of Passenger Play from the subject vehicles resolved ongoing concerns."

The ODI said in a general sense, the way manufacturers design vehicles to limit drivers from using on-board scrims "would indicate that industry in general shares concerns regarding the driver viewing images not related to navigation or the driving task, and that vehicle manufacturers recognize in some instances, that distraction can constitute a safety defect."