Faulty Window Automatic Reversal System Forces Tesla To Recall Nearly 1.1 Million Vehicles

Automobile company Tesla is recalling about 1.1 million of its electric vehicles citing a problem with the window automatic reversal system that does not stop even when it detects an obstruction.

This means that as the windows go up automatically, it may likely cause injury and as such does not comply with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) safety guidelines for power-operated windows.

The NHTSA said, “The window automatic reversal system may not react correctly after detecting an obstruction. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 118, “Power-Operated Window Systems.”

“A closing window may exert excessive force by pinching a driver or passenger before retracting, increasing the risk of injury”.

Although this recall is not for all Tesla vehicles as it only applies to certain of its Model 3 vehicles for 2017-2022, along with model Ys for 2020-2021 and model S and model X vehicles for 2021-2022.

All Tesla owners do not need to bring the vehicle to the company to rectify this problem, rather the electric vehicle manufacturer told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that it would perform an over-the-air software update of the automatic window reversal system.

The automotive company further disclosed that it was not aware of any warranty claims, field reports, crashes, injuries, or deaths related to the recall, rather it deems the recall as a safety risk.

During the product testing in August, Tesla disclosed that employees identified window automatic reversal system performance that had greater than expected variations in response to pinch detection.

After extensive additional testing, it was determined that the vehicles’ pinch detection and retraction performance in the test results did not meet automatic reversal systems requirements.

Tesla said that starting from September 13, vehicles in production and in pre-delivery received a software update that sets power-operated window operation to the requirements.

The latest software update will enhance the calibration of the vehicle’s automatic window reversal system behavior.