Tesla recalls 362,000 cars over crash risk

Bloomberg

Tesla Inc. is recalling hundreds of thousands of vehicles after US authorities said its automated-driving technology could increase the risk of a crash.
The automaker’s so-called Full Self-Driving Beta system “may allow the vehicle to act unsafe around intersections,” including travelling straight through from a turn lane and proceeding through steady-yellow traffic lights, according to a filing with the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The system’s errors “increase the risk of a collision if the driver does not intervene,” the filing said.
The recall affects 362,758 vehicles, including certain Model 3, Model X, Model Y and Model S units manufactured between 2016 and 2023. Tesla is expected to fix the issue through an over-the-air software update by April 15, NHTSA said in a statement.
The agency’s concerns raise new questions about a system that Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk sees as critical to the company’s long-term prospects.
“The overwhelming focus is on solving full self-driving,” Musk said in a June 2022 interview with Tesla fans on YouTube. “That’s essential. It’s really the difference between Tesla being worth a lot of money or worth basically zero.”
While Musk didn’t address the specifics of NHTSA’s filing, he tweeted Thursday that the term “recall” was “flat wrong” since the issues can be fixed with a software update.
The company’s automated-driving technology is already under scrutiny from Washington. NHTSA has been looking into how it handles crash scenes since 2021 after a dozen collisions with first responders and other vehicles. The agency also opened an investigation last year into complaints of Tesla cars with Autopilot driver-assist that suddenly brake at high speeds.
NHTSA said in a separate statement Thursday that its investigations of Tesla’s Autopilot are still active.
The company has also been accused of exaggerating the capabilities of its technology.