This week has been a bad one for Tesla, which has announced the recall of its electric cars for the third time.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the automaker has recalled a total of 80,561 vehicles in China due to software and seat belt issues. According to the country’s State Administration for Market Regulation, the battery management failures affecting 67,698 Model S and Model X vehicles can cause unexpected shutdowns, and 12,863 Model 3 sedans have seat belt problems.
As with some previous recalls, Tesla is fixing the problems with an over-the-air software update. It is not known whether the defects have resulted in accidents or injuries, or whether they are directly related to past failures. In February, Tesla recalled 817,143 vehicles across its lineup due to a defect in the seat belt horn function.
This is the third recall of Elon Musk’s company in a week. Tesla previously recalled nearly 30,000 Model X SUVs due to malfunctioning airbags and 321,000 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles due to a software malfunction in the rear lights.
It comes amid numerous recalls throughout the rest of 2022, including more than 1 million vehicles recalled because ‘the automatic window reversing system did not respond correctly when detecting an obstacle’ and therefore ‘the window could trap the driver or passenger when closing.’
Such recalls could damage Tesla’s reputation. Consumer Reports recently ranked the automaker last in its annual reliability survey.
Earlier, the US Ministry of Justice launched an investigation into Tesla after a dozen road accidents, including fatal ones, involving its autopilot. Prosecutors are investigating whether the company misled consumers, investors and regulators by making unsubstantiated claims about the capabilities of its driver assistance technology.
