Tesla has issued an over-the-air (OTA) recall for 362,758 vehicles in the US that have Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta software installed. According to the recall notice posted on the NHTSA website the software “allows a vehicle to exceed speed limits or travel through intersections in an unlawful or unpredictable manner [which] increases the risk of a crash.”
Tesla says they were made aware of the issue by the NHTSA themselves, who has been conducting an ongoing investigation into Autopilot and FSD Beta. The NHTSA identified potential concerns related to certain “operational characteristics” of FSD Beta in four specific scenarios:
- traveling or turning through certain intersections during a stale yellow traffic light;
- the perceived duration of the vehicle’s static position at certain intersections with a stop sign, particularly when the intersection is clear of any other road users;
- adjusting vehicle speed while traveling through certain variable speed zones, based on detected speed limit signage and/or the vehicle’s speed offset setting that is adjusted by the driver; and
- negotiating a lane change out of certain turn-only lanes to continue traveling straight.
It is under these scenarios the NHTSA says FSD Beta “could potentially infringe upon local traffic laws or customs, which could increase the risk of a collision if the driver does not intervene.”
After meeting with the NHTSA several times over to course of two week to discuss the concerns, Tesla decided to issue a voluntary recall, even though they disagreed with the agency’s analysis.
To address the NHTSAs concerns Tesla will deploy a free OTA software update in the coming weeks to “improve how FSD Beta negotiates certain driving maneuvers during the conditions described above.”
No similar recall has been posted by Transport Canada at the time of publication. You can read the full NHTSA recall notice below.
UPDATE Feb 17: Transport Canada has now published the same recall.
RCLRPT-23V085-3451
