Tesla has issued its second recall in a week, the most current because of a faulty seat belt warning chime in 817,143 vehicles in 2021 and 2020 model years.
The recall affects Model S, X, 3 and Y vehicles in which a sound doesn’t occur when seat belts aren’t fastened when a car is started. The seat belt chime was not sounding on some Teslas due to a software bug.
According to a document filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Tesla has already begun introducing a software update to fix the issue in production vehicles. Other Tesla vehicles will receive an over-the-air software update early this month.
The bug occurred after a driver had exited the vehicle when the chime was sounding, and then re-entered the vehicle.
The issue would not occur if the vehicle exceeded 13.7 mph, according to Tesla. The automaker’s visual alert of an unbuckled seatbelt was also unimpaired by the flaw, the document said.
The South Korea Automobile Testing & Research Institute notified Tesla of the issue on January 6 of this year. Tesla concluded January 25 there was a problem. There have been no crashes, injuries or deaths as a result of the bug as of January 31, according to the document Tesla filed.
Tesla also recently recalled its “full self-driving” software. It had been programmed to roll through stop signs.
Tesla has received increased scrutiny from NHTSA. The administration said yesterday it’s considering a probe into complaints Teslas sometimes brake unnecessarily.
Last year scrutiny from NHTSA led to Tesla disabling a way to play video games when its vehicles are moving. It also launched an investigation into Teslas crashing into emergency vehicles while using Autopilot or other driver-assist features.
James Raia, a syndicated columnist in Sacramento, California, publishes a free weekly automotive podcast and electronic newsletter. Sign-ups are available on his website, www.theweeklydriver.com. He can be reached via email: james@jamesraia.com.
##RVT1038b
So Tesla decided it was okay to add a feature that is illegal pretty much everywhere. Let somebody get pulled over because his car ignored that squad parked nearby. Honest officer, I didn’t do it. My car did! Good luck with that.
The rest of the story… This feature is only for the cars that are in the FSD (full self drive) beta testing. It is also a feature that the driver must select. (the rolling stop speed is selectable. Read on from ABC11.com.
The “rolling stop” feature let the Teslas go through all-way stop signs as long as the owner enabled the function. The vehicles have to be traveling below 5.6 mph while approaching the intersection, and no “relevant” moving cars, pedestrians or bicyclists can be detected nearby. All roads leading to the intersection had to have speed limits of 30 mph or less, the documents said. The Teslas would then be allowed to go through the intersection at 0.1 mph to 5.6 mph without coming to a complete stop.
Gee, built-in California Stop?
Two thumbs up, Tommy. Have a great day! 😀 –Diane
What do you expect, they were made in California.