Tesla Recall for 285,520 Model 3 and Model Y in China May Explain Accidents

Yet, on June 25, the company released a recall for 285,520 Model 3 and Model Y. These cars would have issues with the activation of the “active cruise control” that could lead to crashes such as the one Yazhou said she had.

According to the SAMR (State Administration for Market Regulation) document about the recall, 35,665 units of the imported Model 3 manufactured “between January 12, 2019, and November 27, 2019,” are included. All the other 249,855 vehicles involved were made in China: 211,256 Model 3 cars made from December 19, 2019, to June 7, 2021, and 38,599 Model Y units produced from January 1, 2021, to June 7, 2021.

The document describes the problem in these words:

“Vehicles within the scope of this recall may cause the driver to incorrectly activate the active cruise function in the following situations due to the active cruise control system problem: when the vehicle is in D gear, the driver again pulls the right control lever to try to switch gears. When making a sharp turn, the driver accidentally touches and turns the right control lever and waits. After the active cruise control is activated by mistake, if the cruise speed set by the vehicle is not the current speed, and the current speed is lower than the set speed, the vehicle will accelerate to the set speed, and a sudden increase in vehicle speed will occur, which will affect the driver’s expectations. It may lead to misjudgment of vehicle control and, in extreme cases, the vehicle may collide, posing safety hazards.”

That is the same description given in multiple cases of SUA (sudden unintended acceleration) involving Tesla vehicles in China apart from the fact that most owners, including Yazhou, said the brakes did not work. This can be the "misjudgment of vehicle control" SAMR mentions in its document. In other words, this recall could be the explanation for these accidents and Tesla's attempt to avoid new ones.

The SAMR document also clearly states that “this recall was carried out when the State Administration for Market Regulation initiated a defect investigation. Affected by the investigation, Tesla Motors (Beijing) Co., Ltd. and Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. decided to take recall measures to eliminate potential safety hazards.”

Tesla said that the repair can be made by an OTA (over-the-air) software update and that, in some cases, the owners will have to take their cars to a Tesla Service Center for the repair. The problem is that the situation seems to be caused by an ergonomic problem, not solely by software.

If drivers hit the right control lever by mistake in sharp turns, Tesla would have to make sure that does not happen or that touching the right control lever does not turn on the “active cruise control,” which seems to be a reference to Autopilot.

After the recall, Tesla went to its Weibo account to apologize to its customers, according to IT Home. This is the complete text the company released at the Chinese Facebook’s equivalent:

“Tesla China recalls some Model 3/Model Y vehicles

For the vehicles (Model 3/Model Y) within the scope of this recall, because the active cruise control function may be activated by the driver by mistake, there are potential safety hazards in extreme cases. Adhering to the attitude of being responsible to consumers, we took the initiative to file a recall plan with the State Administration for Market Regulation.

Users can complete the recall through remote car upgrade (OTA) without going to the store; if the vehicle cannot be upgraded through OTA, the Tesla Service Center will contact the relevant user to upgrade the vehicle's active cruise control software.

We apologize for the inconvenience caused by this recall. At the same time, Tesla will continue to improve and improve safety in strict accordance with national requirements, and do its best to provide users with an excellent and safe driving experience.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: How do I know if my car is within the scope of the recall? Are Model S/X vehicles involved in a recall?
A: We will notify relevant users via SMS and other methods. Users can also call the customer service hotline: 400 910 0707 for details. In addition, you can also log on to the website dpac.samr.gov.cn, follow the WeChat official account (SAMRDPAC), and inquire through the VIN number. In addition, Model S/X does not have this problem. The positions of the cruise control levers of the two are different, and the probability of false activation is extremely small. This recall is only for Model 3/Y vehicles.

Q: When did the recall begin and what has been upgraded in the OTA recall?
A: The threshold for activating active cruise has been increased; reminders of active cruise function activation and exit have been added. We plan to implement the recall in batches starting the second day after the recall notice is issued, and will push the upgrade to relevant users as soon as possible.

Q: What is a remote upgrade (OTA) and how to upgrade?
A: OTA is the abbreviation of English Over-the-air, which refers to the remote software upgrade of the car. The car owner does not need to visit the service center or actively do anything. Tesla will actively push the updated version of the vehicle software to your vehicle. When you see a down arrow in the upper right corner of the vehicle screen, you can connect to the mobile phone hotspot or WIFI to complete the download and installation of the updated software, and then the OTA upgrade of the vehicle can be completed.

Q: Will remote upgrade (OTA) cause other problems or fix other problems?
A: The remote upgrade (OTA) is aimed at the improvement of the "active cruise" function, and will not cause any impact on other systems of the vehicle, nor will it affect the normal use of the vehicle. In addition, in accordance with the requirements of the regulatory authorities, we will file all OTA upgrades of sold vehicles, and will also upload the upgraded firmware to the regulatory authorities.

Q: What does the active cruise function mean?
A: The active cruise function of the Tesla Model 3/Y is turned on by moving the right gear lever down once when the vehicle is in D gear. After the active cruise function is activated, the vehicle will set the active cruise speed limit according to the "current speed" or "road speed limit" selected by the user, and increase the speed to the setting while maintaining a safe distance from the preceding vehicle (the user can select the distance between the vehicles) The speed of the vehicle may be the same as that of the vehicle ahead. The user can quit the active cruise function by flipping the right lever up once, or stepping on the brake.

Interpretation of automobile recalls in the first half of 2021:
http://dpac.samr.gov.cn/xwdt/gzdt/202106/t20210626_98629.html”

In this text, Tesla clarifies how it plans to tackle the problem: it will add steps to active cruise control activation and added new warnings about when the function is activated and turned off. What the company did not answer is if it will extend this recall to all Tesla vehicles involved worldwide and if the software change is enough to avoid accidental activation of the advanced cruise control. We’ll try to ask Tesla about that, but the company does not talk to the press since it killed its PR department.