Tesla recalls over 2m vehicles over autopilot safety issues

Tesla said on Wednesday the company is recalling more than 2 million of its vehicles over autopilot safety issues after an investigation found its autopilot safety system was "not sufficient to prevent driver misuse."

"In certain circumstances when Autosteer is engaged, the prominence and scope of the feature's controls may not be sufficient to prevent driver misuse," the recall notice said.

The recall includes the 2012-2023 Model S, 2016-2023 Model X, 2017-2023 Model 3 and 2020-2023 Model Y, nearly all its cars on the road in the United States equipped with Autosteer, a feature of "traffic-aware cruise control."

The recall was issued following a probe by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which is under the Transportation Department. The agency investigated 11 incidents involving Tesla's Autosteer in August 2021 and found that "there may be an increased risk of a collision" when Autosteer is in use.

Tesla didn't agree with the agency's engineering analysis of the Autosteer issue but agreed to voluntarily administer recall and free over-the-air software updates to impacted vehicles.

The update will "incorporate additional controls and alerts" to "further encourage the driver to adhere to their continuous driving responsibility whenever Autosteer is engaged," the NHTSA safety report said.

An NHTSA spokesperson said Wednesday that its investigation "remains open as we monitor the efficacy of Tesla's remedies and continue to work with the automaker to ensure the highest level of safety."

"Automated technology holds great promise for improving safety but only when it is deployed responsibly; today's action is an example of improving automated systems by prioritizing safety," the spokesperson added.

In February this year, Tesla recalled more than 360,000 vehicles because of a version of its "full self-driving" software that may increase the risk of crashes, the NHTSA said at the time.