Tesla has issued a voluntary recall of Model 3 and Model Y vehicles that may have a manufacturing flaw affecting the braking system. The recall impacts Model 3 vehicles made between December 2018 and March 2021 and Model Y vehicles made between January 2020 and January 2021. Owners of these vehicles received an email saying that they could schedule an appointment to have the issue fixed at no charge to them.
“We are not aware of any crashes or injuries relating to this condition,” Tesla said of the issue.
The braking system’s issue seems to be related to the brake caliper bolts, which may not have been secured correctly. They could come loose over time and cause the brake caliper to come in contact with the inner surface of the wheel rim. This could prevent the wheel from rotating freely.
“In such rare circumstances, abnormal noise may occur, and the wheel may be prevented from freely rotating, which could cause tire pressure loss,” Tesla said in the email.
Tesla vehicle owners did say that they noticed some notice with their brakes making noise or acting unreliable. They were often able to make appointments to have their brakes inspected and hopefully fixed pretty quickly. A few owners did gripe that they tried to have the suspected issue with their brakes looked at before the recall was issued and the technicians attempted to make it out to be normal.
Previous recalls of Tesla vehicles include vehicles with a suspension issue in China. Tesla has also previously recalled Model X vehicles with a bolt in the steering system that could come loose and Model Y vehicles with an issue with its roof trim. The United States regulatory agency NHTSA issued a recall of 158,000 Tesla vehicles with faulty media control units last January. On the flip side, the NHTSA found no fault in Tesla vehicles in reported cases of sudden unintended acceleration, saying that the acceleration could have been caused by driver error.
Tesla has also previously been accused of ignoring safety issues, including ones that may cause a dangerous situation like the alleged sudden unintended acceleration. One recent lawsuit brought by Tesla owners accused the company of attempting to cover up a suspension issue in Model X and Model Y vehicles. Reported issues like these caused Consumer Reports to downgrade the Model S and Model Y in its most recent Auto Reliability Survey.
The company did respond to a fatal crash of a Tesla in Texas in which the Autopilot was initially blamed and reports of Californian residents abusing the Autopilot in ill-advised stunts by activating the camera mounted to the rear view mirror. The camera will monitor driver alertness while Autopilot is engaged. Tesla claims that video footage from this camera will not leave the vehicle despite concerns about privacy.
The NHTSA has not yet issued an update on the most recent recall on its website. Neither NHTSA nor Tesla have issued statements on the recall. The latest available information on recalls of consumer products, including motor vehicles, can be found on Recalls.gov.
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