TESLA Recalls Over 2 Million Vehicles as Preventive Measure Over Autopilot Safety Issues

Dec 13, 2023 11:56 PM EST

CARS PARKED IN FRONT OF COMPANY BUILDING — (Photo : PEXELS/Craig Adderley)

TESLA is in the process of recalling a massive number of its vehicles. The company issues a recall for over 2 million units because of its auto pilot safety issues. The recall includes the 2012-2023 Model S, 2016-2023 Model X, 2017-2023 Model 3 and 2020-2023 Model Y.

Autopilot Issues Require Recall

The notice stated the exact reason for the recall of over 2 million vehicles. Furthermore, according to NBC News, Tesla is recalling more than 2 million of its units after an investigation discovered its autopilot safety system "was not sufficient to prevent driver misuse."

The feature responsible for this problem is Tesla's Autoseer feature. The company describes this feature as "traffic -aware cruise control. As written in its recall notice, in certain situations when this feature is engaged, its prominence and scope of control may be not enough to prevent driver misuse.

Autosteer keeps the car at a set speed or following distance and can see other cars and lane lines. But the company says drivers should keep their hands on the steering wheel and "always be ready to take immediate action," even when the feature is turned on.

The recall was made after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is part of the Transportation Department, looked into it. In August, 2021 the agency had its initial investigation on 11 incidents involving Tesla's Autosteer. As shared by NBC, since then National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reviewed almost 1,000 crashes where autopilot was initially alleged to have been utilized.

Moreover, the agency focused on 322 autopilot-involved crashes. These incidents include frontal impacts and impacts from potential inadvertent disengagement of the system. Over the next two years, Tesla cooperated and conducted several meetings with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

TESLA's Solution to Autopilot Safety Issue

As stated on BBC News, recall notice indicated that Tesla did not agree with the agency's analysis. However, it agreed to add new features to address the concerns. These new features include additional checks on turning on the self-driving features.

This update will be an automatic one. Car owners do not need to visit a dealership or store. However, as shared on reports authorities still referred it as a recall.

Moreover, the recall for over 2 million vehicles came after a week when one Tesla former employee told BBC, he believed that Autosteer feature is not as safe as the company projects. Lukasz Krupski, spoke to BBC after bagging the Blueprint Prize.

He stated that he thinks both the hardware and software is not ready. He thinks that such problem affects everyone, he claimed that all are essentially becomes part of experiments in public roads.

A lot of Tesla's units sold in the US since the Autopilot feature came out in 2015 are being recalled. As for its action, the company stated it would send a software update "over the air" to fix the autopilot safety issue.

Tesla answered a recent article on Washington Post discussing this autopilot safety issue. Tesla on its X account, defended the nature of its safety systems.