Tesla is recalling almost all of its vehicles sold in the U.S. because some of the warning lights on the dashboard are too small.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced a recall of nearly 2.2 million vehicles on Friday, a sign that the electric car maker is stepping up its scrutiny. The agency also said it has upgraded its 2023 investigation into Tesla's steering issues to an engineering analysis, one step closer to a recall.
The warning light recall will be done through a software update, according to a document released by the agency on Friday. It covers Model S from 2012 to 2023, Model X from 2016 to 2023, Model Y from 2017 to 2023, and Cybertruck from 2024.
The agency said the font size for brake, parking and anti-lock brake warning lights is smaller than the font size required by federal safety standards. This can make critical safety information difficult to read, increasing the risk of a collision.
Tesla has already started releasing software updates, and owners will be notified by letter starting March 30.
NHTSA said it discovered the issue during a routine security compliance audit on Jan. 8.
Tesla has identified three warranty claims that may be related to the issue, but there have been no reports of collisions or injuries.
Tesla IncShares have been in a trend since July and were trading again on Friday morning after releasing their fourth-quarter earnings report last week7%, to the highest level since May last year.
Last December, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) pressured Tesla to recall more than 2 million vehicles to update software and fix a flawed system that was supposed to ensure drivers were paying attention while using Autopilot.
The update will add warnings and alerts for drivers, the filing said.
The recall follows a two-year investigation by NHTSA into a series of crashes that occurred during the use of the Autopilot partially autonomous driving system. Some are fatal.
The agency said its investigation found that Autopilot's methods of ensuring driver attention may be inadequate and could lead to "foreseeable system abuse."
The added controls and alerts will "further encourage drivers to assert their continued driving responsibilities," the document said.
But safety experts say that while the recall is a good step, it still holds drivers accountable and does not address the underlying problem of Autopilot not responding to stopped vehicles. Tesla's driver monitoring system, they say, relies on detecting hands on the steering wheel and doesn't prevent drivers from checking out.
Tesla said on its ** that its Autopilot and "Full Self-Driving" systems are not capable of driving vehicles and that human drivers must be ready to intervene at any time.
Last February, the NHTSA also pressured Tesla to recall nearly 363,000 cars equipped with a "Full Self-Driving" system because it may misbehave at intersections and not always obey speed limits.