Tesla has produced hundreds of thousands of vehicles this year – in the quarter ended September 30, 2022, it had 343,000 deliveries and produced 365,000 vehicles. However, these numbers come alongside several rounds of the recalling of vehicles over the past 11 months, the most recent of which saw the automotive company recall more than 321,000 vehicles in the US, weeks after it became aware of the problem in late October.
As per a filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Elon Musk’s EV company initiated the latest round of recalls over a software glitch, which prevented the tail lights on some vehicles from working properly. These instances of the rear lights on one (or both) sides of the vehicle failing to illuminate may “cause false fault detections during the vehicle wake up process,” the company said in the filing, which was made public on Saturday.
This issue could result in the rise of risks of collisions, especially in dark conditions, the NHTSA said.
And while Tesla is yet to receive reports of accidents or injuries caused by the improper working of the tail lights, it is not taking the risk of waiting for such reports and get embroiled in potential lawsuits and damages and compensation – which could make things messy for the company. Tesla will address the issue with the release of a new over-the-air software update.
The software glitch has not, so far, affected the brake lamps, backup lamps and turn signal lamps of the vehicles, and they will continue to operate as usual.
As per the filing, the recall includes 2023 Model 3 and 2020-2023 Model Y vehicles that have been manufactured for customers in the United States. Tesla has produced 345,988 Model 3 and Model U vehicles in the third quarter of the year.
This development marks the latest of Tesla vehicle recalls in the this year, including one for almost 30,000 Model X vehicles over an issue that could cause the front passenger airbag to improperly deploy in “low-speed” collisions and result in possible injuries.
It also marks the 19th vehicle recall by the EV giant in the United States this year, taking the total number of vehicles recalled over the recall campaigns to 3.7 million. This includes the 40,000+ Model X and Model S vehicles it recalled over an issue that could cause the loss of power steering when the vehicle is going over potholes or driving over a bumpy road.
