Tesla recalls 817,000 US vehicles over seat belt alert failure

Tesla has been forced to recall 817,000 vehicles in the US, over an issue with the seatbelt alert system not warning drivers to buckle up.

This is a bad week for the Elon Musk-owned firm, which has been hit by two recalls in three days, and over 100 complaints of cars suddenly breaking without warning.

The latest massive recall was ordered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), as until it is fixed the affected vehicles no longer comply with ‘federal motor vehicle safety standards ‘on ‘Occupant Crash Protection.’

It means that without an audible chime activating to warn the driver they haven’t buckled up their seatbelt, they are put at increased risk of harm from a crash. 

Some 2021-2022 Model S and Model X cars are affected, as well as Model 3’s from 2017 to 2022, and Model Y vehicles from 2020 to 2022.

Sales figures since 2017 suggest Tesla has sold just under a million cars in the US, so this 817,000 vehicle recall is a significant issue for the Texas-based firm. 

Tesla said it was not aware of any crashes or injuries related to the issue and would send an ‘over the air update’ in the coming days to fix the problem. 

Many of the recent issues facing the car firm have been in its software, which could be a dent to the pride of founder Elon Musk, who recently tweeted: ‘Tesla is as much a software company as it is a hardware company, both in car and in factory.’ 

Documents shared by the NHTSA suggest that the issue is limited to circumstances where the chime was interrupted in the ‘preceding drive cycle’, where the driver continued going, dismissing the alarm without buckling up. 

This suggests that it is only a problem for Tesla drivers who failed to listen to the chime the first time around. 

Tesla explained that even under those circumstances, once the driver hits 13 miles per hour the chime will sound again, and there is a visual reminder to buckle up. 

However, safety standards in the US require that ‘the audible seat belt reminder chime to activate upon vehicle start’ and not turn off until the driver is strapped in.

This means that the Tesla models, all of which were built after 2017, and most since 2020, fall foul of the letter of these regulations.  

It can be fixed with a simple software update, which Tesla says will be delivered to cars in the coming days. 

This problem was spotted at the South Korea Automobile Testing and Research Institute on January 6, with Tesla agreeing to a recall on January 25.

This is one of the largest recalls for the firm, covering all models in its lineup and the vast majority of cars it has sold since 2017.

While the issue appears to be an easy one to fix, and fairly limited in its real world applications, it couldn’t have come at a worse time for Tesla.

The firm announced just yesterday it was recalling 54,000 vehicles over a problem with its self-driving software that lets them roll through stop signs without coming to a complete halt.

Tesla announced it would disable the feature with an over-the-internet software update.

The rolling stop feature, that was being tested by a number of drivers, lets vehicles go through junctions with a stop sign at up to 5.6 miles per hour. 

The documents say Tesla agreed to the recall after two meetings with officials from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

NHTSA officials are also investigating more than 100 complaints from drivers about ‘phantom braking’ where the vehicle suddenly stops without warning.

This is a persistent issue for the firm, which prompted Musk to say in October that it would roll-back its self-driving software due to the problem.

Since then the number of incidents has spiked, with more 107 complaints to the NHTSA in the past three months alone – compared to 34 in the two years before. 

The regulator is also investigating a string of incidents where cars using Autopilot have crashed into emergency vehicles.

All of that is on top of other recalls for physical problems with the cars, including with the cameras, trunk and suspension.

Safety advocates complain that Tesla should not be allowed to test the vehicles on public roads with untrained drivers, and that the Tesla software can malfunction, exposing other motorists and pedestrians to danger. Most of the other car companies with similar software test with trained human safety drivers. 

Alain Kornhauser, faculty chairman of autonomous vehicle engineering at Princeton University, said the recall is an example of the NHTSA doing its job as the nation’s road safety watchdog.

The recall ‘shows that they can be effective even if Tesla should have been more responsible in the first place,’ he said.

In November, the NHTSA said it was looking into a complaint from a Tesla driver that the full self-driving software caused a crash.

The driver said the Model Y went into the wrong lane and was hit by another vehicle. The SUV gave the driver an alert halfway through the turn and the driver tried to turn the wheel to avoid other traffic, according to the complaint.

But the car took control and ‘forced itself into the incorrect lane,’ the driver reported.

No one was hurt in the crash on November 3 in Brea, California, according to the complaint.

In December, Tesla agreed to update its less sophisticated autopilot driver-assist system after the NHTSA opened an investigation.

The company agreed to stop allowing video games to be played on centre touch screens while its vehicles are moving.