Over 2 million Teslas recalled after Autopilot ruled as ‘defective’

Elon Musk has suffered yet another blow as more than two million Tesla models have been recalled after a recent investigation by U.S regulators branded the maker’s showcase Autopilot driver assistance system as “partly defective”.

Undertaken by the country’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the recent inquiry into Tesla’s semi-autonomous driving system found the software “may not be sufficient to prevent driver misuse”.

The result of all this is that every single Tesla model featuring Autopilot sold in the U.S since 2015 is now subject to a recall – the equivalent of over two million cars. Tesla has said it’ll soon offer an over-the-air update to resolve the issue, which will “incorporate additional controls and alerts to those already existing on affected vehicles to further encourage the driver to adhere to their continuous driving responsibility whenever Autosteer is engaged”.

This isn’t the first time Tesla has been in hot water about its Autopilot software; a fatal crash in 2019 has resulted in a several year-long court case in which the judge recently found “reasonable evidence” that Tesla was “acutely aware“ that its Autopilot system was suffering issues.

Nothing has yet been said regarding what will happen to UK market Tesla models; the Tesla Model Y is currently the UK’s best-selling electric car, with over 30,000 units already sold in the UK in 2023. DrivingElectric has reached out to Tesla for comment, however, is yet to receive a response.

That said, stricter UK and EU regulations mean that several Autopilot features are not permitted for use on public roads in this country, making them unavailable to domestic Tesla owners. Therefore, it appears unlikely that there will be a recall for UK Tesla models, although that is something we can’t rule out at this stage.