On Tuesday, Tesla, the electric vehicle manufacturer, announced a recall of 1.85 million vehicles in the US. The recall is due to a software failure that may prevent the detection of an unlatched hood, which could fully open and obstruct the driver’s view while driving.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the risk of car crashes increases due to the unlatched hood issue, as it can block the driver’s view.
NHTSA reported that in mid-June, Tesla began updating its over-the-air software to address this problem. The updated software now correctly detects when the hood is open and alerts the driver as needed.
Tesla has been investigating complaints related to the hood opening problem, following similar cases in China involving Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in late March.
The company conducted a thorough analysis of samples from mid-April to June 7 to pinpoint the issue and identify commonalities in the hood latches across different vehicle lines and regions. The analysis revealed that, unlike in Europe and North America, the hood latch problem was more prevalent in the Chinese market.
On June 7, Tesla began engineering studies in Europe and North America to examine the hood latch assemblies for potential switch deformation. On July 17, the company decided to voluntarily recall all affected vehicles as a precautionary measure.
As of July 20, Tesla had identified warranty claims and field reports in the US related to this issue but had not found any reports of injuries, crashes, or fatalities caused by the problem.
The recall affects the 2021-2024 Model 3, Model S, and Model X, as well as the 2020-2024 Model Y. All recalled vehicles feature a hood latch manufactured by Magna Closures Co. in China.
This is Tesla’s largest recall since December, when the company recalled 2.03 million vehicles—almost all of the vehicles operating on US roads at that time—to install new safeguards in the Autopilot system.