Tesla undertakes its largest-ever voluntary vehicle recall

Tesla has undertaken its biggest-ever voluntary recall to fix problems in about 475,000 Model 3 and Model S vehicles, bringing a black mark to a company whose cars have consistently won among the highest official safety ratings.

The recall was caused by rear-view cameras and trunk latches, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Thursday, though it added that the problems have not led to any accidents reported by Tesla.

The recall comes at a time when Tesla has been under regulatory scrutiny over a number of safety concerns, though none are related to quality issues in its vehicles such as those identified on Thursday.

The NHTSA earlier this month said it was looking into a report that Tesla drivers were able to play video games on their central screens while their vehicles are in motion, and in August it began a wider review of Tesla’s driver-assistance technology, known as Autopilot, after a number of crashes.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday, but Elon Musk, its CEO, has vigorously rejected suggestions that the company has failed to take safety seriously enough. Speaking in an interview with the FT this month, he pointed to the high official safety ratings its vehicles had been awarded and claimed it had “achieved the lowest probability of injury of any cars ever tested by the US government”.

He added: “Far from running roughshod over the regulations, we think they’re inadequate, and go much further than the regulations require.”

Tesla is recalling about 356,309 Model 3 cars made in 2017 through 2020 as well as about 119,009 Model S cars from 2014 to 2021, the NHTSA said in documents released on Thursday. The total is comparable to the 499,550 vehicles that Tesla delivered in 2020, and Thursday’s announcements mark the largest recall for Tesla dating back to at least 2009, according to the NHTSA’s website.

Tesla’s shares edged down less than 1 per cent on Thursday amid slight US stock index increases.

In January, Tesla recalled 158,000 cars concerning touchscreen display problems. In 2016, Tesla recalled 2,700 Model X vehicles concerning a potential problem with the third row of seats in the back of the car.

For the Model 3 cars, the NHTSA said the rear-view camera cable harness may be damaged by opening and closing the trunk lid, preventing the rear-view camera image from displaying. The front trunk latch for Model S cars might be malfunctioning in a way that prevents the latch from closing, NHTSA said. In both cases, Tesla will fix any problems for free.