Why has Elon Musk's Tesla recalled two million cars in US

Tesla is recalling over 2 million vehicles across its model range to address a faulty system designed to ensure driver attention during Autopilot use.

According to documents released by U.S. safety regulators on Wednesday, the company plans to deploy a software update to rectify the issues.

This recall follows a two-year investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into a series of crashes, including fatal incidents, occurring during the use of Tesla's partially automated Autopilot driving system.


The agency's investigation revealed that Autopilot's approach to ensuring driver attention may be insufficient, potentially resulting in foreseeable misuse of the system.

The recall includes almost all Tesla vehicles sold in the U.S. and includes those manufactured between October 5, 2012, and December 7 of this year.

According to the documents, the software update introduces additional controls and alerts aimed at reinforcing the driver's ongoing responsibility for continuous driving.

Certain affected vehicles received the software update on Tuesday, while the rest are scheduled to receive it at a later date, as outlined in the documents.

Autopilot comprises Autosteer and Traffic Aware Cruise Control. Autosteer is designed for limited access freeways, excluding City Streets, where a more advanced feature, Autosteer on City Streets, is applicable.

According to the recall documents, the software update will reportedly restrict the usage of Autosteer. The documents state that if the driver tries to activate Autosteer under inappropriate conditions, the system will notify the driver of its unavailability through visual and audible alerts, and Autosteer will remain inactive.

According to the recall documents, agency investigators held meetings with Tesla from October onwards to elucidate the "tentative conclusions" regarding the fixing of the monitoring system. It was reported that Tesla disagreed with the agency's analysis but opted for the recall on December 5 in an attempt to address the investigation.

For years, advocates for auto safety have urged more robust regulation of the driver monitoring system, primarily designed to detect whether a driver has their hands on the steering wheel.

While Autopilot can autonomously steer, accelerate, and brake within its lane, it is a driver-assist system and doesn't have the capability to drive independently, despite its name.

FAQs:

Q1: Who are the founders of Tesla?
A1: Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning.

Q2: What was Tesla's original name?
A2: Nikola Tesla.