Tesla has to recall nearly all of the vehicles it has sold in China.
Chinese regulators announced Friday Tesla will deploy software updates to more than 1 million vehicles to allow changes to braking methods and more warnings about the use of accelerator pedals.
Nearly all China sales affected
Tesla has sold about 1.13 million cars since it arrived in China in 2014.
It has to fix almost all of the over 10 lakh cars it has sold in China due to a problem which occurs when a driver takes their foot off the accelerator in order to slow down.
Some 1.1 million electric cars that Tesla made at its Shanghai factory or imported into China between January 2019 and April this year have been affected.
According to Chinese regulations, the event is classified as a “product recall”.
“Recall” classification
The action is described as a product recall under Chinese regulations, the regulator said, but it was not immediately clear if drivers might need, or would be eligible, to return vehicles to Tesla for refunds.
These cars will be sent an over-the-air software fix to rectify the issue.3
Fix
From May 29, the U.S. automaker will issue over-the-air software updates to 1.1 million units of its Model S, Model X, Model 3 and Model Y cars, both imported and China-made, the State Administration for Market Regulation said in a statement.
Tesla plans to fix the issue with an over-the-air software update, which will allow drivers to have more control over the intensity of their regenerative braking system, which is at the core of the recall.
What actually happened
According to the recall report, the concerned vehicles may not allow drivers to turn off regenerative braking or provide enough warnings when drivers stepped on the accelerator pedal hard, which, combined, could increase the risk of collision.
The problem occurs when a driver takes their foot off the accelerator in order to slow down.
What instead occurs is the additional power starts getting transferred to the car’s battery to charge it up.
This makes the rate of deceleration somewhat uncertain, and could increase the risk of collision and pose a safety hazard, China’s regulator said.
Because of this defect, drivers may accidentally step on the accelerator pedal, mistaking it for the brake.
How the update will help
The update will restore the option of switching off regenerative braking and warn drivers when they step hard on the accelerator pedal, it added.
Setback for expansion in China
Tesla produces two million vehicles a year at its plant in Shanghai, which marked the firm’s entry into China.
The latest recall comes a month after the EV maker was planning to scale up its investments in the country.
China’s market regulator will ask Tesla to recall cars both imported and made in the country, due to management rules about deficient vehicles
Not a first for Tesla
This is the second such recall this year, after a recall happened earlier this year.
In February more than 360,000 Teslas equipped with its Full Self-Driving software had been issued for a recall until the company began rolling out an over-the-air fix in March.
This technology made cars act in an unsafe manner around intersections, as they ignored stop signs and proceeded without due caution in many cases.
Signs of maturing
Racking up recalls in the US and China is the latest sign that Tesla is maturing into every other car company.
Safety recalls are a common occurrence for large brands, and more likely to come in big batches when the company is building millions of vehicles a year.
India arrival
The company had been manufacturing and selling electric cars in China since 2017, but its entry into Indian markets has been blocked because of disagreements with import duty with the government.
Musk has made it clear that 2023 is an important year for Tesla as it seeks to graduate from an early-adopter niche brand to a mass producer of vehicles.
He told investors earlier this year that Tesla plans to double its output in 2023 to 2 million vehicles.
