Over 360,000 Teslas Recalled For Risk Of Full Self-Driving Crashes
Tesla's Full Self Driving feature has been the subject of a ton of controversy dating back to 2016 when the feature was first showed off on a Model X in a slickly-produced video. The video turned out to be allegedly staged as and the car was, in fact, coded to make the turns and maneuvers in the video and the car was not "driving itself."
At the beginning of this year, the United States Justice Department started looking into Tesla's Full Self-Driving Software and claims Elon Musk made about the feature after Teslas with FSD enabled allegedly caused multiple crashes resulting in injuries or fatalities.
Now, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration has announced a large recall that affects hundreds of thousands of Tesla models installed with the Full Self-Driving software, noting that the software (which is still in beta) could cause the vehicle to behave unpredictably, possibly resulting in a crash.
Tesla's Full Self-Driving Beta is under fire
In total, the NHTSA says that the recall potentially covers 362,758 vehicles across the entirety of Tesla's lineup, including the 2017-2023 Model 3, the 2016-2023 Model S, the 2016-2023 Model X, and lastly, the 2020-2023 Model Y. The Full Self-Driving software will rarely malfunction in various scenarios outlined by the NHTSA. Rarely, a Tesla equipped with the FSD beta will violate traffic laws before the driver has time to grab the steering wheel and disable the feature.
According to the NHTSA, Tesla will release an over-the-air update for free to affected vehicles. The software fix seeks to improve the how the Full Self-Driving software decides to act in the traffic scenarios specified by the NHTSA. Owners will be notified of the fix by mail no later than April 15 and Tesla stores will be notified by today. The fix is expected to be rolling out on impacted vehicles within the next few weeks.