It was Lochlan Keefer’s big day.
For months, when he wasn’t playing Dungeons & Dragons with friends, refining his chess game or pole vaulting with the track team, Keefer was preparing for other challenges.
Three-point turns. Jughandle navigation. The dreaded parallel parking.
The high school junior was ready for his road test.
He took time off from school on May 16, a chilly and rainy day, and headed over to the Motor Vehicle Commission in Cherry Hill with his dad, primed to show off his skills and get his driver’s license.
He hopped into the driver’s seat of the family’s white 2022 Tesla Model Y and the examiner got into the passenger side. Keefer put on his seatbelt, checked his mirrors and put his hands at 10 and 2.
Exactly what happened next is up for debate, but Keefer flunked the test.
The examiner wrote on the testing slip: “Had the parking and stopping assistance on never stepped on the brake to stop his self let the vehicle stop it self.”
After Lochlan Keefer failed his road test, the examiner cited features the Keefers say the Tesla does not have.Canva
“The examiner accused my son of using driver assistance features simply because he parallel parked smoothly on the first try,” James Keefer said. “He was specifically accused of using paid parking-assist and driving features, which we do not subscribe to.”
Keefer said he and his son tried to explain that the car didn’t have those kinds of features. It only has “regenerative braking.”
What’s that?
“Whenever Model Y is moving and your foot is off the accelerator, regenerative braking slows down the vehicle and feeds any surplus power back to the Battery,” the Tesla website explains. “By anticipating your stops and reducing or removing pressure from the accelerator pedal to slow down, you can take advantage of regenerative braking to increase driving range.”
Lochlan Keefer said he offered to disable the feature three times, but the examiner said it wasn’t necessary.
“But after the test — despite no safety issues and no actual driving faults — the examiner claimed driver assistance was active and retroactively said it should have been off,” James Keefer said.
Keefer asked if his son could take the test again, without the braking system, but the examiner refused. Lochlan Keefer would have to wait 14 days to get another chance, the examiner said.
They waited to speak to a supervisor, who supported the examiner’s decision.
“I asked them to show me the policy they claimed we were violating,” he said. “They couldn’t find it and they couldn’t cite it. When I showed them the policy, they refused to read it.”
Then it got ugly.
The supervisor “became belligerent, and unprofessionally and abusively told me to `go f*** myself,’” Keefer alleged in a Title VI discrimination complaint filed with the agency.
“Further exacerbating this misconduct, I clearly heard an MVC employee identify me pejoratively as a `Republican’ and perceived that I was being discriminated against due to driving a Tesla — a brand publicly associated with Elon Musk, who has been subject to politically motivated controversy,” Keefer wrote. “The overt hostility, refusal to follow MVC policy, and unprofessional conduct indicate discrimination based on perceived political affiliation and the make of our vehicle.”
Keefer said he was confident about the regenerative braking policy for a road test because he called the agency to ask ahead of time. He didn’t want to sink his son’s shot to pass the test by bringing the wrong car.
Indeed, MVC has some pretty specific rules for what vehicles can be used for road tests. The car has to be registered and have a valid inspection sticker. For drivers under age 21, it must have red license plate decals. Also, the examiner must be able to reach the vehicle’s emergency brake.
It bans self-parking features entirely, but it says nothing about regenerative braking. Neither does MVC’s driver’s manual.
The manual does say driving skills aren’t the only reason someone may fail a road test. It says “the vehicle may be the cause for denial or failure of the road test,” and some may be denied the opportunity to take the test if the examiner “considers the vehicle unsuitable or unsafe for the test.”
None of that happened here.
We double-checked with MVC, which confirmed that regenerative braking is allowed for road tests.
The agency said it could not comment specifically about this driver because of the discrimination complaint.
Lochlan Keefer isn’t the only kid to fail a road test because of regenerative braking.
It happened to hopeful drivers in California. At least twice. After that, the state issued new guidance to examiners that regenerative braking alone was not a reason to fail a driver. It also happened in Arizona. And we imagine there are others.
We do get it. Newfangled cars and their advanced technologies are a lot to keep up with.
Maybe it’s time for the folks in Trenton to take another look at these technologies to see if we’re behind the times or if clarification is needed. It’s happened before. In 2016, lawmakers unanimously passed a bill to allow rear view backup cameras and parking sensors during road tests.
“All areas of the MVC are notified and provided continuous updates of any changes or updates to statutory or regulatory requirements and compliance,” an MVC spokesman said.
That’s good, but maybe, given that MVC allows regenerative braking, its examiners could use a refresher course on these new fancy-pants advanced features.
As for Lochlan Keefer, he scored another road test date, this time for May 30 in Delanco.
He passed without disabling the regenerative braking.
“The examiner at Delanco was fully aware of the regenerative braking feature and had no issues conducting the test under these conditions, further illustrating the inconsistency in interpretation or enforcement of non-existent MVC policies regarding regenerative braking,” James Keefer said.
Safe driving, Lochlan.
Lochlan Keefer holds his probationary license in front of his family's Tesla in Cherry Hill, NJ on Thursday, June 12, 2025. An instructor failed Keefer on his road test after accusing him of using driving assist features on the Tesla.Dave Hernandez | For NJ Advance
Stories by Karin Price Mueller
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Karin Price Mueller may be reached at KPriceMueller@NJAdvanceMedia.com. Follow her on X at @KPMueller.