Tesla has issued a physical recall for more than 24,000 of its Model 3 vehicles over a seat belt issue. This is the latest in a long line of recalls for various Tesla models over the past year. Last month, the company recalled nearly 1.1 million vehicles in the U.S. over concerns that the windows in those cars can pinch someone when rolled up. Before that, the company recalled 59,000 vehicles in July to fix a serious flaw in their automatic emergency call system.
A couple of months before that, Tesla recalled nearly 130,000 cars in the U.S. due to a touchscreen malfunction caused by a CPU overheating during supercharging. Then, earlier this year, about 600,000 Tesla vehicles were recalled due to concerns over their pedestrian warning system. However, one of the more curious recalls happened in May, when Tesla recalled a single unit of its Model X EV over missing a safety reinforcement. One thing to note here is that most of the recalls mentioned above were software issues that were fixed through OTA updates, while the single Model X recall and the latest Model 3 recall are actual physical recalls that will require the vehicles to be taken to Tesla’s service centers to get them fixed.
According to reporting by Elektrek, Tesla has been sending emails to Model 3 customers, informing them about a recall that affects vehicles manufactured between 2017 and 2022. The company says it needs to inspect “the assembly of the second-row left-hand seat belt buckle and the center seat belt anchor to ensure components are fastened to specification.” There’s no word on how many vehicles have a faulty seatbelt assembly, but according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration documents cited by the blog, the recall affects a total of 24,064 cars in the U.S.
Tesla Model 3 Recall
According to Tesla’s declaration to the NHTSA, the company first started investigating reports about the incorrect assembly of the seatbelts in Aug. 2022 and found 105 cases where they were incorrectly assembled after service repairs. A further investigation followed this month, helping the company confirm the root cause and identify the affected vehicles based on their correction codes. Tesla also says it is unaware of any crashes or injuries because of the issue.
According to Tesla, the fix will involve securing the seatbelt anchor and fastening the seatbelt according to the correct specifications. As is to be expected, the repairs will be provided for free. However, many Model 3 owners have already got the issue fixed with money from their own pocket, meaning they could be entitled to a refund from Tesla in the days ahead.
