If you have a Model S or a Model X vehicle that was manufactured between February 2016 and October 2016, and it is not functioning properly, well you might be in luck. Tesla is issuing a voluntary recall that will cover cars with a potential manufacturing issue that may cause their parking brake to become stuck in the ‘on’ position.
The parking brake in question gets stuck because of a fractured internal gear. Tesla has already confirmed that the issue won’t cause any danger to the safety of the occupants of the car. Indeed, only a very small number of vehicles are likely to have this fault at all. However, it is still issuing a recall as a matter of exercising caution.
Apparently, the problem first surfaced when Tesla found that many of its customers were getting alerts that said their parking brake needs service. The same alerts would sometimes also tell them that their brakes could not be disengaged. The number of cars that were affected by this problem wasn’t huge enought to cause a panic, but it still made people at Tesla HQ sit up and take notice.
The company started tracing the problem to its roots and discovered that the source of the issue were actually brakes sourced from supplier Brembo. The company says that less than 5 percent cars are likely to actually have been affected by the problem however, considering the extreme difficulty in testing each individual car, it decided that a recall was actually the best option. Affected will be around 53,000 cars which equates up to somewhere around half the total number of vehicles produced by the company in 2016.
Tesla will be swapping out the affected parts and says that the whole process takes less than 45 minutes. But due to the huge number of parts what will be needed, a total recall could take as long as October. Meanwhile, you can continue using the vehicle normally.
Here is the full mail sent by Tesla to its customers:
Tesla recently discovered a potential manufacturing issue with the electric parking brakes installed on certain Model S and Model X vehicles that could prevent the parking brake from releasing. We do not believe this issue could ever lead to a safety concern for our customers, and we have not seen a single accident or injury relating to it. However, in order to be overly cautious, we are going to be proactively replacing these parts to ensure that no issues arise.
Specifically, we have determined that the electric parking brakes installed on Model S and Model X vehicles built between February and October 2016 may contain a small gear that could have been manufactured improperly by our third‑party supplier. If this gear were to break, the parking brake would continue to keep the car from moving, but the parking brake would then be stuck in place. There have been no reports of the parking brake system failing to hold a parked vehicle or failing to stop a vehicle in an emergency as a result of this condition, and this part has no impact on the car’s regular braking systems. We have also determined that only a very small percentage of gears in vehicles built during this period were manufactured improperly.Our records show that you own a Tesla vehicle that was built during this period. We will soon be sending you an official recall notice by mail, which will include information on how to have your parking brakes replaced. In the meantime, it is safe to continue regular use of your vehicle.Thank you for being a Tesla customer. For more information, FAQs, and other details related to this recall, please visit the Recall Information page. If you need additional assistance, you can also contact us by phone at 1‑877‑798‑3752 or by email at ServiceHelpNA@tesla.com. We apologize for this inconvenience.
We do get a look at the effort the company is putting into becoming the model automaker. Eager to please and attentive to the good of its customers. As a new company, all this will count strongly in building its public image.
