Tesla is one of the leading electric car companies in the world, but a significant number of vehicles are said to require recalls because of their broken displays.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has requested Tesla withdraws more than 158,000 of its vehicles that are on the road. The administration notes that the faulty displays on the vehicles could increase the chances of crashes.
While Tesla has had issues with its cars before, this is one of the biggest (in terms of scale) that the company has had to deal with.
The letter from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) notes that ‘eMMC NAND cell hardware fails when the storage capacity is reached’ and this leads to the Model S and X vehicles not being able to do essential functions.
In the letter, the administration notes the issues that may occur because of this flaw:
The failure […] has an adverse impact on the Autopilot advanced driver assistance system (“ADAS”), as well as turn signal functionality due to the possible loss of audible chimes, driver sensing, and alerts associated with these vehicle functions.
This appears to be an issue that Tesla are aware of. Tesla has previously told the NHTSA that the chips will begin to fail within five or six years as capacity is reached. The EV company also projected that the majority of repairs that it would have to do on the chip would occur in 2022. With this in mind, the warning from the NHTSA may have been expected.
Despite Tesla acknowledging the issue, and issuing over-the-air software updates to try and combat the issue, the NHSTA does not believe the company has done enough to provide a safe driving experience.
The administration has solid grounds for addressing the problem as it breaks the law. The chip error means that the backup camera will not work properly, and this feature is required as a safety feature by federal law. As a result, the NHSTA has described the previous efforts of Tesla as ‘procedurally and substantively insufficient’.
Tesla is currently an incredibly profitable company that is on the up, but if the company wishes to remain on top of the EV market it is clear that the company needs to make sure that its vehicles are safe. With this in mind, many will expect the company to begin recalling over 158,000 vehicles.
