Tesla Recalls 130K Vehicles For An Alarming Reason

VADISH ZAINER/Shutterstock

By Rahul Srinivas/May 11, 2022 4:18 pm EDT

It's common for carmakers to issue product recalls fixing problems on vehicles that were inadvertently shipped with mechanical, electrical, or software issues. Unfortunately, EVs aren't immune to such recalls, and we have witnessed manufacturers like Tesla and Lucid issue product recalls in the past. In 2022 alone, Tesla has issued as many as a combined 13 product recalls for 2022 model year Model 3 and Model Y vehicles for software issues. And it looks like the company has more in store.

In the most recent example, Tesla recalled as many as 130,000 vehicles that suffered from a software issue. This problem caused the onboard infotainment system on the cars to overheat. Apparently, the overheating problem was more pronounced when the vehicle was being fast-charged. According to CNN, Tesla's newest product recall does not involve owners visiting a Tesla service station. Instead, the exercise involved Tesla issuing an over-the-air (OTA) update to fix the problem, thereby making the entire process akin to upgrading the software on a modern smartphone.

canadianPhotographer56/Shutterstock

A wide range of Tesla cars in model years 2021 and 2022 are affected by this rather peculiar overheating problem. These include the 2022 Model 3, model years 2021 and 2022 Model S, 2021 and 2022 Model X, and the 2022 Model Y. The cause of the issue is a specific microchip in the infotainment system on these cars that isn't cooling sufficiently. This overheating chip eventually causes the infotainment system to lag and, in some cases, made the infotainment screen appear blank.

With a lot of Tesla's core features accessed using the infotainment system, this issue affected the normal functioning of the car. Some car owners were unable to use crucial features like navigation, air-conditioning, or even viewing the live feed from the backup camera.

Tesla also told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that it had received 59 warranty claims that were directly linked to this issue. The company went on to add that it first identified this overheating issue in January 2022. On the first few batches of cars that had this problem, Tesla replaced the computer chip that caused it. However, by April 2022, Tesla figured out a way to fix the problem by issuing a software patch.

If you happen to own one of the aforementioned Tesla car models and suspect facing this issue, now might be a good time to check if your car has a pending software update. You can also check with the Tesla VIN number recall search tool to see if your vehicle is part of this or any other official recall.