Photo: Tesla Motors
Tesla Motors will recall 40,000 vehicles in the U.S. because of potential loss of power steering assist. The campaign is focused on the 2017-2021 Model S and Model X vehicles that may suffer from a sudden loss of power steering assist when driving on rough roads or after hitting a pothole.
Instead of having to recall all those 40,000 units to its dealers for repairs, Tesla is doing everything over the air. Literally, as there will be an Over-The-Air (OTA) update for the Tesla Model S and Model X vehicles that the company believes might be affected by this potential issue.
According to the filing made with the NHTSA, which is mandatory for recalls even if they are OTA, Tesla Motors has identified 314 vehicle alerts for the condition in the U.S., and those vehicles are believed to have an issue related to this potential fault.
Tesla has also noted that it is unaware of any accidents, injuries, or deaths related to the potential problem. Unlike other recall campaigns, this one will not have to involve sending letters to owners, making service appointments, and so on.
The American marque has decided to recalibrate the steering assistance system with an update that will enable the computers on board to be better at detecting "unexpected steering assist torque."
In regular human words, it refers to those situations when driving on rough roads or just hitting a massive pothole in such a way that the steering wheel is moved, as if someone had pulled it from the driver's hands.
If a vehicle experiences a loss of power steering assistance, it will be more difficult for the driver to operate the steering wheel, especially at low speeds, as greater steering effort is required.
According to Tesla, more than 97 percent of the recalled vehicles had already installed an update that has addressed the issue by November 1, 2022, as Automotive News (sub. req.) informs.
Fortunately, if you happened to be the owner of one of the described models and it was imported from the USA independently, it will still get the update as long as it has an Internet connection.
Mind you, this is not the first steering-related recall for the Model X, as it was recalled back in 2020 for an issue with the system. The Model S had a similar recall for the same problem back in 2018, but those referred to power steering bolts that may be excessively corroded due to road salts. Those potential problems needed to be addressed in an authorized Tesla workshop, but this recent recall does not.
According to the filing made with the NHTSA, which is mandatory for recalls even if they are OTA, Tesla Motors has identified 314 vehicle alerts for the condition in the U.S., and those vehicles are believed to have an issue related to this potential fault.
Tesla has also noted that it is unaware of any accidents, injuries, or deaths related to the potential problem. Unlike other recall campaigns, this one will not have to involve sending letters to owners, making service appointments, and so on.
The American marque has decided to recalibrate the steering assistance system with an update that will enable the computers on board to be better at detecting "unexpected steering assist torque."
In regular human words, it refers to those situations when driving on rough roads or just hitting a massive pothole in such a way that the steering wheel is moved, as if someone had pulled it from the driver's hands.
If a vehicle experiences a loss of power steering assistance, it will be more difficult for the driver to operate the steering wheel, especially at low speeds, as greater steering effort is required.
According to Tesla, more than 97 percent of the recalled vehicles had already installed an update that has addressed the issue by November 1, 2022, as Automotive News (sub. req.) informs.
Fortunately, if you happened to be the owner of one of the described models and it was imported from the USA independently, it will still get the update as long as it has an Internet connection.
Mind you, this is not the first steering-related recall for the Model X, as it was recalled back in 2020 for an issue with the system. The Model S had a similar recall for the same problem back in 2018, but those referred to power steering bolts that may be excessively corroded due to road salts. Those potential problems needed to be addressed in an authorized Tesla workshop, but this recent recall does not.
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