Tesla Recalls Software in Nearly 12K Cars That Can Cause Sudden Emergency Braking

Tesla Automatic Emergency Braking Recall Overview:

• Who: Tesla is recalling software in 11,704 vehicles.
• Why: Tesla says the software caused the emergency brake to be activated falsely in 11,704 Tesla Model S, X, 3 and Y.
• Where: The affected cars were sold in the United States.

Tesla is recalling the software in almost 12,000 vehicles after discovering the software can force cars to wrongly slam on the emergency brakes, putting passengers at risk of being rear-ended. 

The issue affects 11,704 Tesla Model S, X, 3 and Y vehicles sold in the United States since 2017, says the recall, issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Tesla says the issue was discovered after it issued a firmware update to the cars on Oct. 23. 

That update introduced a software communication disconnect between two onboard chips, it said.

“The next morning, Oct. 24, Tesla began to receive reports of false [forward-collision warnings] and [automatic emergency brake] events from customers,” Tesla said.

The issue caused the automatic emergency brake system to “unexpectedly activate while driving” causing an increased risk of rear-end collision, Tesla said.

“In a matter of hours, we investigated the reports and took actions to mitigate any potential safety risk.”

The company is not currently facing legal action over the recall, but Top Class Actions follows recalls closely to help keep consumers informed and because they sometimes end in class action lawsuits. 

Tesla said it was not aware of any crashes or injuries related to the issue, so far.

The company says it has rolled out the remedy software, and owners do not need to do anything further.

Tesla Recalls Announced in 2021

The news comes after two other recent recalls issued by Tesla. 

Earlier this month, Tesla announced it is recalling 2,791 of its 2020-2021 Model Y and 2019-2021 Model 3 vehicles due to what the company says is an issue with their suspensions. 

The issue is related to a front suspension lateral link fastener that Tesla says can become loose, causing it to separate from the vehicle’s sub-frame. 

Tesla announced another recall in February, this one covering all Model X and Model S vehicles with touchscreen issues, following pressure by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to recall the defective cars. More than 100,000 Model S and Model X vehicles were affected by that recall. 

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