Tesla urged to recall 158,000 vehicles over potentially dangerous display failures

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is asking Tesla to recall approximately 158,000 vehicles due to the potential dangers of touchscreen failures.

The NHTSA recently sent the Elon Musk-owned company a letter saying it was investigating a potential defect in the rear view cameras and air conditioning systems that defog the windows.

The document specifically cites Model S vehicles produced from 2012 to 2018 and the Model X from 2016 to 2018 – these models are designed with a certain processor that crashes when storage capacity is reached.

NHTS urges Tesla to notify owners of the named vehicles of the recall, if the company refuses, it must provide an explanation for this decision.

The letter comes just months after Tesla was forced to recall 9,000 Model X cars due to misplaced headlining and bolts that blew the roofs off while driving.

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The document specifically cites Model S vehicles produced from 2012 to 2018 and the Model X (pictured) from 2016 to 2018 – these models are designed with a certain processor that crashes when storage capacity is reached.

From 2012 to 2018, Tesla sold approximately 531,500 vehicles in total, and the recalled cars could represent approximately 15-20% currently on the road.

The problem stems from the memory chip made by Nividia with built-in eight gigabyte flash memory, which is partially filled every time the vehicle is started.

And when it reaches full capacity, the hardware fails.

The failures were observed in the reversing / reversing camera and the loss of the air conditioning which defogs and defrosts the windows.

A potential defect affecting rear view cameras and air conditioning systems that defog windows affects Model S (pictured) and Model X vehicles

The issue also impacts the autopilot’s advanced driving system, as well as the turn signals, chimes, driver detection and alerts associated with these vehicle functions.

“ During our review of the data, Tesla confirmed that all units would inevitably fail given the limited storage capacity of the memory device, ” said Stephen Ridella, director of the Defect Investigation Bureau of the NHTSA, in the letter.

NHTSA opened the investigation last June, in which Tesla attempted to rectify it with “ over the air ” software updates.

However, the agency notes that the effort was “procedurally and substantively insufficient”.

The email comes just months after NHTSA mandated Tesla to recall around 9,500 2016 Model X cars in November dying from linings that may come apart and bolts that may not have been properly tightened. .

NHTS urges Tesla to notify owners of named vehicles of the recall, if the company refuses, it must provide an explanation for this decision (photo is a Model X)

The NHTSA has said the cosmetic front roof and spine trim may have been glued on without first using a primer, and one or both pieces of trim may separate from the vehicle while it is being driven.

In October, a Tesla customer from California posted a video on social media showing him driving on a freeway in his all-new Model Y after his roof flew just two hours after driving him out of the car. car park.

“Hey @elonmusk, why didn’t you tell us Tesla sells convertibles now?” the pilot wrote.

“Because the roof of our brand new Y model fell on the highway.

The driver also wrote: ‘I had heard there were issues with Tesla’s QA, but I don’t know how you can miss something as important as the roof attached.

The driver said the roof fell “ literally two hours after leaving the parking lot ” of the dealership where he bought the car.

He writes that he immediately returned the vehicle to the dealership.