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The auto dealer announced that it is recalling 578,607 vehicles in the US because pedestrians may be unaware of an approaching vehicle if warning risk sounds are obscured.
Recalled vehicles include 2020 through 2022 Model S, Model X, Model Y, and 2017 through 2022 Model 3 vehicles.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the cars and SUVs subject to the recall have a “boombox” function that obscures audible warnings for pedestrians in violation of federal safety standards.
Boombox uses the Pedestrian Warning System (PWS) speaker and users can customize sounds that are made while the vehicles are moving, officials said.
“The Boombox functionality allows a customer to play preset or custom sounds through the PWS (pedestrian warning system) external speaker when the vehicle is parked or in motion," NHTSA officials stated.
”While Boombox and the pedestrian alert sound are mutually exclusive sounds, sounds emitted using Boombox could be construed to obscure or prevent the PWS from complying" with safety standards, the agency wrote.
The recall marks the 10th for Tesla over the past four months, and fourth in the past two weeks as safety regulators crackdown on the company.
NHTSA said the vehicles fail to comply with a federal motor vehicle safety standard on minimum sound requirements for electric vehicles.
No crashes, injuries, or fatalities were reported due to the issue, according to Tesla.
To remedy the problem, Telsa said it will perform an over-the-air software update that will disable the Boombox functionality when the vehicle is in Drive, Neutral, and Reverse modes. It will still be functional when the vehicles are stationary.
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