The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) informed on Tuesday that Tesla Inc is recalling nearly 12,000 ECs sold in the United States since 2017 due to communication error that may cause a false forward-collision warning or unexpected activation of the emergency brakes.
California-based automaker explained later that the recall concerns 11,704 Model S, X, 3 and Y vehicles that had installed software update on Oct. 23 on its limited early access version of 10.3 Full-Self Driving (FSD), an advanced driver assistance system that handles some driving tasks but does not make the vehicles autonomous.
The issue, according to Tesla’s explanations, was prompted by a software communication disconnect between two onboard chips, raising the risk of a rear-end collision if the automatic emergency braking system unexpectedly activates while driving.
However, the company pointed they had no reports of any crashes or injuries related to the issue, but NHTSA has nevertheless asked the car maker last month to address software updates to its Autopilot driver-assistance system.
After receiving reports of inadvertent activation of the automatic emergency braking system, Tesla uninstalled FSD 10.3 and updated the software, releasing FSD version 10.3.1 to the affected vehicles, NHTSA said, noting they’ll continue its communication with Tesla to ensure that any safety defect is promptly acknowledged and addressed.
Tesla canceled after the Oct. 24 reports the FSD update on EVs that had not installed it and disabled FCW and AEB on affected vehicles, with Chief Executive Elon Musk justifying the issue as one to be expected with beta software.
It began deploying the over-the-air software update and re-enabled FCW and AEB features on EVs with the update on October 25.
The US auto safety agency opened a formal safety probe into Tesla’s Autopilot system in 765,000 EVs in the US vehicles after a series of crashes involving Tesla models and emergency vehicles and also raised concerns with regards the limits on disclosure of safety issues imposed on drivers.
Be the first to comment