A viral video shows a Tesla Model 3 in 'Full Self-Driving' mode driving straight through railroad barriers in the Los Angeles area, failing to detect the train station barriers.
See also: Tesla sues California DMV over 'Full Self-Driving'
The incident coincides with the NHTSA deadline for Tesla to submit critical data from its investigation into FSD traffic violations, which include failures at railroad crossings.
A user named Laushi Liu posted footage from his Tesla Model 3's dashboard camera on Sunday, March 8, showing the vehicle in 'Full Self-Driving' mode at 23 mph near West Covina, California. In the video, the car approaches a railroad crossing where the barriers have just been lowered and drives straight through them.
The crossing bars were located roughly at the height of the Tesla's front cameras, making the failure particularly concerning. The system showed no sign of detecting the bars or attempting to slow down. The driver did not intervene in time, but the footage from the dashboard camera shows that he pressed the brakes at the moment of the collision.
Liu commented on the post 'Tesla FSD almost killed me today', which has garnered a lot of comments. Many commenters pointed out that FSD is a Level 2 system that requires constant supervision from the driver, while others criticized Tesla for promoting a product called 'Full Self-Driving' that fails to detect railroad trestles.
This is not the first incident where Tesla's ‘Full Self-Driving’ fails at railroad crossings. NBC News investigated the issue and found over 40 reports of FSD failures at railroad crossings on social media, interviews with six Tesla drivers who encountered problems, of which four provided video.
See also: Tesla removes Basic Autopilot from standard feature
In a documented case, a Tesla Model 3 in FSD was hit by a train in eastern Pennsylvania after the system steered onto the tracks. The driver and passengers had exited before the collision, but the car was struck.
The pattern was serious enough that Senators Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal wrote to NHTSA requesting a formal investigation into FSD's handling of railroad crossings.
The timing of this viral video is noteworthy. March 9th is the deadline for Tesla to deliver critical crash data to the NHTSA as part of the agency's investigation into FSD traffic violations.
The NHTSA launched the investigation in October 2025 after linking 58 incidents to the FSD, including 14 collisions and 23 injuries. By December 2025, documented violations had risen to 80, from 62 driver complaints, 14 Tesla reports, and 4 media accounts.
The study covers failures at railway crossings along with other violations such as running a red light and traveling in opposite traffic lanes. The study includes approximately 2.88 million Tesla vehicles equipped with FSD.
See also: Tesla stops selling its Full Self-Driving package
Tesla has struggled to comply with NHTSA data requests, securing two deadline extensions, from the original date of January 19 to February 23 and then to March 9. The company told NHTSA it had 8,313 files requiring manual review and could process only about 300 per day.
