By David Shepardson and Aditya Soni
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Tesla on Friday said it was recalling 376,000 of its electric vehicles in the U.S., due to a failure of the power steering assist feature that could make the vehicles harder to steer, particularly at low speeds, raising the risk of a crash.
Tesla shares fell 3% in mid-day trading.
The recall follows a more than year-long probe by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration after some Tesla owners reported steering failures. Some were unable to turn the wheel while others cited increased effort. More than 50 vehicles were allegedly towed due to the issue, NHTSA said last year.
Reuters reported in late 2023 that tens of thousands of owners had experienced premature failures of suspension or steering parts since 2016, citing Tesla documents and interviews with customers and former employees.
In a filing with NHTSA, Tesla said some 2023 Model 3 sedans and Model Y crossovers running older software could face an overvoltage breakdown, potentially overstressing motor drive components on the printed circuit board.
Tesla said that if this overstress condition occurs while the vehicle is in motion, steering remains unaffected, and a visual alert is triggered. But once the vehicle stops, the steering assist may fail and remain disabled when it moves again.
As of January 10, Tesla has identified 3,012 warranty claims and 570 field reports that may be related to the condition but said it had no reports of any crashes related to the condition.
Tesla said the recall is not in response to NHTSA’s investigation of allegations of loss of steering control, which remains open.
The company released an over-the-air software update in October to address the issue but did not file the recall report until this week. As of January 23, 99% of affected vehicles in the U.S. have installed the update, Tesla said.
On January 16, Tesla said it decided to issue a steering recall around the world after a unnamed foreign regulator opened an investigation and raised concerns about the issue.
This recall marks the automaker’s second large recall this year. In January, Tesla recalled about 239,000 vehicles due to malfunctioning rear-view cameras.
Tesla stock has declined around 10% this year, after a strong 2024.
(Reporting by Aditya Soni in Bengaluru and David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Tasim Zahid and David Gregorio)
