Tesla might have put in the fallacious airbag for Mannequin S and Mannequin X house owners who opted to change from the out there steering yoke again to the steering wheel, or vice versa.
That’s in accordance with recall paperwork posted late final week by the federal authorities and dated November 3.
The frontal airbag itself is completely different between the 2 steering setups, and Tesla lays out the hazard: “An air bag that’s not designed to operate with the substitute steering yoke or wheel might deploy incorrectly, rising the danger of damage throughout a crash.” Tesla says it’s not conscious of any accidents associated to the change, although.
2022 Tesla Mannequin S Plaid
The pool of potential autos made a part of this recall is small. Tesla might want to bodily examine 159 autos within the U.S., in accordance with recall paperwork, and it’ll notify house owners by January 2, 2024.
The recall began with situations famous in Europe by Tesla Service in October. There, at the very least 12 autos with spherical steering wheels had been retrofitted with yokes however not with the brand new airbag model designed for the yoke. An engineering examine of autos within the U.S. and U.Ok. later decided that at the very least two steering-wheel autos had obtained the airbag meant for the yoke.
2022 Tesla Mannequin S Plaid
Tesla delivered its first yoke-equipped Mannequin S Plaid in June 2021. Whereas it and the Mannequin X are the primary regular-production autos to include one, Tesla wasn’t the primary automaker to entertain the potential of a yoke. As Inexperienced Automobile Experiences identified final 12 months, GM had thought of a steering yoke within the Nineteen Eighties in ideas.
However there might have been good motive why different automakers hadn’t made the leap. Those that took the earliest deliveries of vehicles with the yoke appeared to put on the reward of the setup, however Shopper Experiences then evaluated a Mannequin S with the yoke early on and referred to as it not only a ache to make use of however a attainable security concern, advised more difficult accident avoidance and livability points at parking speeds.
Toyota bZ4X yoke structure
Toyota’s Lexus luxurious model might have discovered a option to do the yoke higher, although. As Inexperienced Automobile Experiences sampled final 12 months, a Lexus RX 450e yoke (not but for the U.S.) combines steer-by-wire tech with a variable-ratio system permitting simply 150 levels of rotation lock-to-lock—seemingly avoiding lots of the points CR pointed to.
The yoke isn’t the one steering-wheel concern Tesla has needed to face in current months. The NHTSA in March introduced an investigation of a number of alleged situations wherein Mannequin Y steering wheels fell off whereas the car was in movement. That concern, associated to a free fastener, prompted a small recall this previous June.
