Tesla Recalls Another 580,000 Vehicles

Tesla has issued a second vehicle recall in as many days. This time it’s for 578,607 vehicles with the Boombox feature that the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) says violates federal safety standards. 

Boombox uses the vehicle’s Pedestrian Warning System (PWS) speaker to play media externally when vehicles equipped with the system are parked, when the horn is pressed, when driving and when using the “summon” feature to move the vehicle, according to Tesla. 

The NHTSA says vehicles with that functionality are violating federal safety standards requiring pedestrian warning sounds from electric vehicles as they make little noise while traveling. 

“While Boombox can enhance the conspicuity of the vehicle to pedestrians, a vehicle that uses Boombox when in motion may cause the PWS to be noncompliant with FMVSS 141, which could increase the risk of a collision,” the NHTSA recall states. 

Tesla says it is not aware of any crashes, injuries or fatalities related to the issue. 

The recall impacts 2020 to 2022 Model S, Model X, and Model Y vehicles, as well as certain 2017 to 2022 Model 3 vehicles built or retrofitted with the pedestrian warning system and may be operating firmware release 2020.48.25 and later releases, according to the recall. 

Tesla plans to deploy an over-the-air firmware release to affected vehicles to disable the Boombox functionality when the vehicle is in drive, neutral and reverse modes.

This is Tesla’s third recall in the past three months and second in as many days. 

On Feb. 9, Tesla announced it was recalling more than 26,000 vehicles due to a defective windshield defroster software that the NHTSA said could reduce visibility, putting drivers at risk. 

On Feb. 2, Tesla announced it was recalling 53,822 vehicles equipped with self-driving features the company says may cause a crash by not stopping at stop signs.

In December, the company issued a recall of 475,00 vehicles for issues with review cameras due to damage to the camera’s cable harness from opening and closing the trunk.