After ending 2020 on a high note in terms of deliveries and profit, Tesla has kicked off this year on the wrong foot. Not only did the Palo Alto-based automaker push back the Roadster and Cybertruck to 2022, but the EV automaker has also attracted the wrath of federal watchdogs.
If you’ve been following our coverage on this subject, you’ll certainly remember that Tesla was politely asked by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to call back 158,000 vehicles over touchscreen issues. From yellowing to leaks, bubbles, and complete failure, the 17-inch tablet found in older Model S and Model X vehicles simply isn’t up to snuff.
After receiving a veiled ultimatum from the NHTSA, the EV specialist had to give in, recalling 134,951 vehicles from the 2012 to the 2018 model years. All of them are fitted with the NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor and Hynix 8GB eMMC NAND flash memory. While on the subject of technical specifications, you should know that vehicles fitted with the Intel Atom processor aren’t affected.
The Safety Administration is adamant that the eMMC flash memory device may exhaust the program and erase cycles for each NAND cell with the passing of time, leading to the failure to maintain the file system’s integrity. “This condition causes failures such as the loss of the rearview camera display, defrost/defog control settings, and exterior turn signal lighting.”
According to the NHTSA report on this problem, Tesla denied the issue on January 27th of 2021, even though it decided “to voluntarily initiate a recall and provide the remedy." Elon Musk's outfit will also replace the eMMC on all affected vehicles or reimburse any affected customers who previously paid to replace an eMMC, Visual Compute Module daughterboard, or MCU.
The NHTSA understands that stores and service centers have been already informed of the recall, while owners will have to wait until March 30th for the notification letter. In the meantime, owners are advised to contact the customer service at 1-877-798-3752 over recall number SB-21-21-001.
After receiving a veiled ultimatum from the NHTSA, the EV specialist had to give in, recalling 134,951 vehicles from the 2012 to the 2018 model years. All of them are fitted with the NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor and Hynix 8GB eMMC NAND flash memory. While on the subject of technical specifications, you should know that vehicles fitted with the Intel Atom processor aren’t affected.
The Safety Administration is adamant that the eMMC flash memory device may exhaust the program and erase cycles for each NAND cell with the passing of time, leading to the failure to maintain the file system’s integrity. “This condition causes failures such as the loss of the rearview camera display, defrost/defog control settings, and exterior turn signal lighting.”
According to the NHTSA report on this problem, Tesla denied the issue on January 27th of 2021, even though it decided “to voluntarily initiate a recall and provide the remedy." Elon Musk's outfit will also replace the eMMC on all affected vehicles or reimburse any affected customers who previously paid to replace an eMMC, Visual Compute Module daughterboard, or MCU.
The NHTSA understands that stores and service centers have been already informed of the recall, while owners will have to wait until March 30th for the notification letter. In the meantime, owners are advised to contact the customer service at 1-877-798-3752 over recall number SB-21-21-001.