Federal regulators are asking Tesla Inc. to call in about 158,000 vehicles due to safety issues, which amounts to one of the largest safety actions by the manufacturer of electric vehicles.
The National Road Safety Administration asked Tesla in a January 13 letter to recall some Model S luxury cars and Model X sports vehicles. NHTSA requested the recall because the car’s touch screens may fail after a few years of use, affecting safety features such as defogging and backup cameras.
Some car safety reminders amount to millions of vehicles. Although modest by historical numbers, the action would be a relatively large recall for Tesla, which has far fewer cars on the road than some competitors. According to market research firm Motor Intelligence, the Silicon Valley carmaker delivered nearly 500,000 vehicles worldwide last year, of which about 205,600 in the US. Tesla does not break out its sales by region.
Tesla does not have to recall the vehicles, although NHTSA said in the letter that if the carmaker does not take action, it should provide an explanation for its decision. The agency can then take the case to a public hearing and eventually try to force a revocation by the courts.
Sam Abuelsamid, an analyst at Guidehouse Insights, said the recall request was important and could cost between $ 300 and $ 500 million.