WASHINGTON: US regulators asked Tesla to recall 158,000 cars in the United States because of a safety-related defect.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a letter to Tesla that a problem with the cars’ display screen and related failures result in loss of rearview camera and other safety-related vehicle functions. The agency said the defect has been found in certain 2012 through 2018 Tesla Model S cars and 2016 through 2018 Model Xs.
Safety investigators have “tentatively concluded that the failure of the media control unit (MCU) constitutes a defect related to motor vehicle safety,” the letter said.
In the vehicles, failed media control units can result in a car’s touchscreen going blank, at which point “a rearview/backup camera image is no longer available to the driver. If this image is not available, the risk of crash increases potentially causing injury or death.”
The MCU failure can also prevent use of the vehicle’s windshield defogging and defrosting system, impact the autopilot system and affect the turn-signal functionality “due to the possible loss of audible chimes, driver sensing and alerts associated with these vehicle functions.” — AFP
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