Tesla Recalls Over 450,000 Model 3 and Model S Cars

Tesla issued voluntary recalls for 475,318 of its vehicles on Thursday. The company hopes to rectify issues with its Model S and Model 3 vehicle’s trunk latching systems.

The recall is for all Model 3 units released from 2017 to 2020, and also applies to a number of Model S units as well. The company believes that the function of the trunk in Model 3 may cause damage to the cable harness attached to the car’s rearview camera, which could lead to its malfunction. The model S issue, however, affects the entire trunk, making it incapable of fully latching.

Tesla has submitted documents to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that indicated there are 475,318 total vehicles that will be recalled, with 356,309 of those vehicles being Model 3 and 119,109 being Model S.

The Model S’s recall is considered more serious, as a malfunction of the front trunk could prevent the car’s driver from seeing the road.

“The from trunk latch assembly may be misaligned, preventing the secondary hood latch from engaging,” Tesla said in its filings with the NHTSA.

The company plans on repositioning the trunk’s latch in order to fix the issue.

Tesla previously investigated for faulty vehicles

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) started investigating a consumer report last month that indicates Tesla’s Model Y self-driving cars may be causing accidents.

A Tesla Model Y owner made a report with NHTSA on November 3 stating that the car started to drive recklessly while using its autopilot technology:

“While taking a left turn the car went into the wrong lane and I was hit by another driver in the lane next to my lane,” the owner added that the vehicle “gave an alert halfway through the turn” and that the owner attempted to interfere with the autopilot “but the car by itself took control and forced itself into the incorrect lane,” causing the car to crash and take damage.

“NHTSA is aware of the consumer complaint in question and is in communication with the manufacturer to gather additional information,” a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement last week.

The technology used in the Tesla Model Y is the company’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta software. Although the feature’s name contains the phrase “full self driving,” Tesla has clarified that the technology is meant to only partially assist a driver and that the technology should be monitored by a “fully attentive driver.”

The company recalled over 10,000 of its vehicles this month due to a glitch in the software that could lead to miscommunications in the FSD Beta mode and potential accidents. The company later announced that 99.8% of the cars have been updated to amend this problem.