There have been a couple of issues linked to Tesla, especially with its self-driving feature. This time, however, the automaker recalled its vehicles for its faulty brake fluid indicator, resulting in tens of thousands of cars being affected.
No Warning Light Shown
When a vehicle's brake fluid starts to run low, an indicator on the dashboard will tell you that you need to refill it as soon as you can. Without it, your car's braking performance will be significantly reduced and may cause an accident.
That just shows how dangerous it can be when the indicator is not working as it should, which is the issue with the impacted Teslas. Specifically, Model X cars between 2021 to 2023 have this problem, with a total of 54,676 affected.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that Tesla released a free over-the-air (OTA) software update to fix the faulty brake fluid warning. Owners can expect a notification letter on December 12th, as per Gizmodo.
It was first detected back on September 19th. The Brakes Integration team then investigated the extent and cause of the malfunction with the brake indicator, wherein they found that the setting for the controller's threshold range that detects low brake fluid levels was incorrect.
Upon finishing the investigation and confirming the root cause of the problem, Tesla voluntarily issued a recall. As of October 10th, the company said that there have been no instances of crashes, injuries, or deaths caused by the faulty brake fluid indicator.
The OTA software update has already been released back on September 18th and owners can access it as soon as they can. However, they will first have to install the software release 2023.32.7 or later in order to do so.
Loss of Steering Control Two Months Prior
Tesla also caught the attention of the NHTSA back in early August after 2023 Model 3 and Model Y vehicle owners reported that they had experienced steering wheel problems, some of which even led to an accident.
The federal regulator claims that it receives several complaints from drivers, resulting in a preliminary investigation that affects approximately 280,000 cars. One report said that the steering wheel was stuck and could only drive straight forward.
Five people experienced this specific problem, whole seven said that the wheel lost power which led to steering difficulties, as reported by The Verge. There was even one complaint stating that the steering wheel fell off while it was being driven.
Even in early 2023, Tesla had to recall over 360,000 Model S, Model X, Model 3, and Model Y vehicles after owners reported issues with its full self-driving feature. The issue could potentially result in the driver not being able to steer away before a crash even occurs.
The NHTSA website states that the FSD Beta system may allow the vehicle to act unsafe around intersections, as reported by CNN. Around 18 reported incidents may have been due to the FHD conditions that the affected vehicles had.
