Tesla, an American electric vehicle manufacturer, announced on the 13th that it will recall approximately 2.03 million vehicles. This recall only affects vehicles in the United States and Canada.
The vehicles recalled this time involve models equipped with automatic assisted steering, such as the 2012-2023 Model S, 2016-2023 Model X, 2017-2023 Model 3, and 2020-2023 Model Y. The recall notice states that in some cases, this function, along with the accompanying control and alarm functions, may not be sufficient to prevent driver misoperation.
This recall was carried out after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the United States conducted an investigation and announced the discovery of defects in Tesla's autonomous driving safety system. The agency began investigating more than 10 traffic accidents involving Tesla's automatic assisted steering function in August 2021.
Tesla expressed disagreement with the agency's engineering analysis of the automatic assisted steering function, but agreed to voluntarily recall affected vehicles and provide free software updates. This update will incorporate additional controls and alarms, requiring drivers to still take on driving responsibility when activating autonomous driving functions.
A spokesperson for the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on the 13th that automation technology has broad prospects in improving safety, but the prerequisite is responsible application of the technology. The investigation into Tesla is still ongoing to monitor the effectiveness of Tesla's follow-up measures.
In February of this year, Tesla recalled over 360000 vehicles due to the increased risk of collision in its "fully autonomous driving" test version software.