Tesla recalls almost all US vehicles in largest ever such move

Tesla is recalling 2.2 million vehicles, or nearly all of its electric vehicles in the US, due to incorrect font sizes on warning lights, which increases the risk of a crash, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said on Friday.

This is more than the 2.03 million vehicles Tesla recalled in the US two months ago, its biggest ever such move at the time, to install new safeguards in its Autopilot advanced driver-assistance system.

Tesla has been under the NHTSA's scanner for its autonomous driving aid that is intended to enable cars to steer, accelerate and brake automatically within their lane.

NHTSA said the latest recall includes vehicles across Tesla’s various models, including the Model S, Model X, 2017-2023 Model 3, Model Y, and 2024 Cybertruck vehicles.

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"Warning lights with a smaller font size can make critical safety information on the instrument panel difficult to read, increasing the risk of a crash," the NHTSA said.

Tesla began releasing an over-the-air software update on January 23rd, free of charge, to fix the issue, the regulator said.

The software update will increase the font size of the visual warning indicators for the brake, park and anti-lock brake system (ABS).

A Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard requires warning indicators for vehicles equipped with hydraulic brakes to be at least 3.2mm, or an eighth of an inch, high. The standard also requires contrasting colours for the written, visual warning and the background, with one of them being red.

Tesla's Cybertruck started receiving a software update to fix the issue for the units in production, the report added.

The recall is also the first for the new electric pickup truck model that Tesla started handing over to customers last November.

The Austin, Texas-based automaker’s stores and service centres will be notified after January 31st, and owners will get notification letters through mail, the report said. – Reuters

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