Tesla Recalls More than 125,000 Cars to Fix a Seat Belt Warning Issue
- Tesla has once again ordered the recall, this time of 125,000 cars to fix a seatbelt-related issue. Basically, its seat belt warnings are not always going off when the rider is not properly buckled in.
- An over-the-air software update will be deployed to all vehicles by the end of this month at no extra cost.
- Tesla has already issued two recalls this year. One was initiated by the NHTSA which affected 2.2 million Tesla cars sold in the USA and the other was initiated by the company itself and affected 3,878 Cybertrucks.
Tesla cars are in trouble once again. The company has ordered a recall of more than 125,000 cars to fix a seat belt issue, which if not fixed, might increase the risk of injury in case of an accident.
The recalled models include a few:
- 2012-2024 Model S vehicles
- 2015-2024 Model X vehicles
- 2017-2023 Model 3 vehicles
- 2020-2023 Model Y vehicles
Tesla is planning to deploy an over-the-air software update to all the affected vehicles by this month at no extra cost to the car owners.
Once the update is successfully deployed, it will remove dependency on the driver seat occupancy switch from the software and only depend on the driver seat belt buckle and ignition status to trigger the seat belt warnings.
What Is the Tesla Seatbelt Issue?Basically, when the seatbelt is not properly fastened, it's supposed to give off a visual and audio warning to the passenger/driver.
However, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) noticed that in some cases, the seat belt warning was not going off when it needed to. This goes against the federal safety requirements.
Thankfully, there's no report of any injury due to this fault. However, as of Tuesday, the NHTSA reported that Tesla has received more than 104 warranty claims over this issue.
This isn't the first time that Tesla had to recall vehicles over technical issues.
- Just last month it had to recall over 3,878 Cybertrucks after it was found that the accelerator can sometimes get stuck, making the car unintentionally accelerate.
- Again in April, the NHTSA investigated another Tesla recall that happened last year because the Autopilot driving system was not doing enough to ensure that the drivers were paying attention on the road. It resulted in numerous collisions, and even fatalities.
- Lastly, in February of this year, nearly 2.2 million Tesla vehicles that were sold in the USA were recalled after it was found that some warning lights on the instrument panel were too small.
This is not a good look for Tesla. At a time when the competition from the Chinese EV makers is so fierce, multiple recalls are tarnishing its image. It's not just about getting in trouble with the NHTSA; it's also about people losing faith in Tesla cars.
The low demand for Tesla cars has forced the EV maker to lay offaround 10% of its total workforce, which was announced in April of this year.
BYD, a Chinese carmaker that Musk had once mocked, had already surpassed Tesla as the top seller of electric vehicles on the planet at the end of last year.Although Tesla reclaimed that spot in the first quarter of the year, the two companies are now direct and fierce competitors, and issues like these with Tesla cars will definitely harm its position.
In addition to poor performance and frequent recalls, Tesla is also struggling on the pricing front. Chinese carmakers like BYD are somehow able to sell the same quality of cars for cheaper, so naturally, more and more customers are getting drawn to them.
Tesla has also not made any recent innovations at the EV front, whereas BYD is producing the best EVs and Hybrids. In fact, it recently launched a hybrid powertrain that can cover 1,300 miles in one go, i.e., without the need to refuel.
BYD is already China's biggest automaker, so unless Tesla is careful, it might soon permanently take its spot at the global level, too.
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