Transport Canada will soon be issuing a recall for owners of Tesla vehicles equipped with a heat pump.
In an emailed statement to Drive Tesla this afternoon, the government agency confirmed Tesla notified them of an issue with defroster performance on certain 2021-2022 Model 3, Model Y and Model S vehicles on February 3, 2022.
According to Transport Canada, the issue is considered a “defect that could affect the safety of a person” under the Motor Vehicle Safety Act, and as such rose to the criteria required for a safety recall.
Transport Canada tells us the issue impacts 2,084 vehicles in Canada, and the official recall notice will be posted to their website “in the near future.”
UPDATE Feb 10 5:42pm PST: The recall notice (# 2022-043) has now been posted to Transport Canada’s website. You can find it here.
While we don’t have the official details of the recall, Transport Canada did confirm it requires a firmware fix. That firmare will be 2021.44.30.7, the version identified earlier today by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
In that recall notice, Tesla explained in detail for the first time the cause behind heat pumps failing in extreme cold temperatures, blaming it on a problem with the heat pump expansion valve.
The automaker says software update 2021.44.30.7 corrects the issue, and that it impacted just 1% of the 26,681 vehicles with heat pumps identified in the U.S.
Transport Canada began a defect investigation at the Issue Assessment level on January 5, 2022, after receiving six complaints from owners in the preceding weeks.
More than 170 owners complained to Transport Canada in the days following the announcement of the investigation on January 29, 2022.
The safety recall does not end their investigation however, and they will continue to examine complaints involving heater and defroster performance on Tesla cars.
They encourage any Canadian owners who continue to experience the problem to contact Tesla directly, and also report the problem to Transport Canada’s Defect Complaints and Recalls Hotline at 1-800-333-0510 or submit a defect complaint form online.
