The world’s largest EV maker, Tesla, recalls more than 1.6 million vehicles in China’s top market due to software issues that could pose safety risks while driving. The recall — sparked by discovering problems with assisted driving functions and the cars’ door-locking systems — will be conducted through remote ‘over-the-air’ (OTA) updates to the cars’ software.
Tesla’s OTA update will increase warnings to drivers while Autopilot is in use, urging them to keep their hands on the wheel and pay attention to the road. This is a reaction to multiple crashes, including some fatalities, that have occurred while the Autopilot feature was active.
It will also remind drivers to depress the accelerator pedal “deeply for a long time” when they’re in a car moving at a high speed to prevent them from mistaking the throttle for the brake. The upgrade will be applied to all Teslas worldwide. However, it needs to be clarified whether Chinese customers will get the same update made available to Tesla drivers in the U.S. since October 2022 via a similar OTA update.
Tesla drivers can choose between ‘Standard,’ ‘Low,’ and ‘Maximum’ energy regenerative braking strategies to control how much of the brake force is directed to help the conventional disc brakes when the vehicle is slowing down or stopping. But a bug in a ‘Low’ mode, introduced in October 2020, meant the system would sometimes forget to go ‘BING!’ when the driver accelerates, causing the car to suddenly apply full braking force and potentially injure or kill passengers.
In addition, a bug in the car’s door-locking system could mean that if the hood is open when the vehicle is in motion, it could pop open unexpectedly, posing a risk of injury and collision. This fix will be applied to all imported and domestic Model S and X EVs from China and some of the company’s first-generation models from 2023.
The Chinese recall comes as several Tesla rivals are expanding in the country’s colossal premium EV market, which is seeing robust growth despite global economic uncertainty and slowing demand for fossil fuels. Local players, including EV maker Li Auto and battery specialist Xpeng, rewrote sales records last month and are vying for dominance in the market’s fastest-growing segment. The industry body CPCA estimates that Chinese EV deliveries reached 940,000 units in November. The numbers are a record for the country’s EV sector and amplify concerns about overcapacity, price wars, and rising competition. This is despite a strong push by the government to encourage EV ownership in the wake of pollution concerns and the growing popularity of electric scooters for getting around cities. The country has set ambitious targets to double EV production and deliveries by 2030. This starkly contrasts the struggling automotive sector, which has seen a collapse in new car sales in recent months.
