Electric vehicle manufacturing giant Tesla has recalled over 1.85 million units in the United States due to risks arising from the car software's failure to detect an unlatched hood.
The National Highway Transport Safety Administration warned that, after a customer opens the hood of their Tesla vehicle, its latch assembly may not detect that it is open. As a result, when the car is put into drive, the vehicle may not be able to notify the driver that the hood is still open. This allows the car to drive while the hood is fully open, obstructing the driver's view while on the road and increasing the risk of an accident. (Related: NHTSA probes Tesla's recall of 2 million cars over Autopilot concerns.)
The recall affects most Tesla models already on the road, including the 2021 to 2024 Models 3, S and X, and the 2020 to 2024 Model Y vehicles. The Cybertruck electric pickup truck is not included in the latest recall notice, although it is already the subject of a different recall notice from June over issues with the accelerator.
Tesla blames Chinese manufacturer for car defects
A statement from Tesla indicated that the vehicles recalled were equipped with hood latches produced in China by manufacturer Magna Closures Kunshan Co. Ltd., which researches, develops, designs, manufactures and sells certain vehicle parts, including side door modules, electric sliding doors, shaking window machines, car door locks and hood latches.
The automaker further claims it began investigating customer complaints of unprompted hood opening instances in certain Model 3 and Y vehicles back in China in March, and it initiated latch hardware recovery and in-service vehicle inspections to deal with the issue.
Most of the defects were first discovered in China, and the incidents seen in North America and Europe represent the minority of affected Tesla models. The company has also opened engineering studies in China, Europe and North America to inspect hood latch assemblies.
Tesla claimed it has only received three reports of the issue in the United States but no reports of crashes or injuries related to the recall. The NHTSA identified at least three related warranty claims as of July 20.
The NHTSA confirmed that Tesla also began rolling out over-the-air software updates – updates that can be done remotely rather than requiring a driver to take their car to the store – to fix the issue in mid-June. With the software update, affected Tesla models are now fully able to detect open hoods and alert drivers. Vehicles currently in production received the software updates on July 15, and owners are currently being notified and the notification period will continue up to Sept. 22.
The NHTSA issues recall notices when it or a car manufacturer determines that a vehicle creates an "unreasonable" safety risk or fails to meet minimum safety standards.
In December, Tesla recalled 2.03 million vehicles in the U.S. to install new safeguards in its Autopilot system.
The previous recall was fixed with an over-the-air software update, which the company heavily relies upon to streamline the maintenance process and reduce costs. Tesla has long argued that the NHTSA should stop labeling its software updates as recalls and has called on the agency to update its rules and terminology, arguing that announcing a recall over a need to provide software updates unnecessarily affects the company's image.
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