American EV giant Tesla allegedly issued a recall on 362,758 of its electric vehicles equipped with Full Self-Driving over concerns that the software “increases the risk of a crash,” as per the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Scope
The recall includes the following Tesla EVs with FSD Beta software or pending installation:
The NHTSA ran tests as part of an investigation into the FSD and Autopilot software. It discovered a few issues on these particular Tesla EVs that must be addressed for road safety. The agency worries that the software enables the cars to surpass the speed limit and unpredictably drive through intersections.
“The FSD Beta system may allow the vehicle to act unsafe around intersections, such as traveling straight through an intersection while in a turn-only lane, entering a stop sign-controlled intersection without coming to a complete stop, or proceeding into an intersection during a steady yellow traffic signal without due caution.
In addition, the system may respond insufficiently to changes in posted speed limits or not adequately account for the driver’s adjustment of the vehicle’s speed to exceed posted speed limits.”
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Between May 2019 and September 12, 2022, Tesla garnered 18 warranty claims that the software might have brought about. Yet, the EV giant told NHTSA that it was unaware of any fatalities or injuries.
Furthermore, Tesla CEO Elon Musk seems to disagree with the recall allegation, as shown in his response to Sam Korus’ Tweet.
“The word ‘recall’ for an over-the-air software update is anachronistic and just flat wrong.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk
Tesla to release an OTA software update
The NHTSA stated that Tesla would implement an over-the-air software update to the subjected EVs to fix the FSD Beta software issue. It is worth noting that the EV giant will not charge the EV owners for the said update.
The agency announced that EV owners would start receiving notification letters by April 15, 2023.
Apart from the FSD Beta, the NHTSA is also looking at Tesla’s Autopilot driver assist feature in connection to several accidents. The US Department of Justice has also implemented a probe into Tesla’s marketing strategy for the technology.
