Tesla Model X Recall: Brake Safety Issues Affects 55,000 Units—What Happened?

Isaiah Richard, Tech Times 17 October 2023, 09:10 pm

Another recall is here from Tesla, and now it is centering on the Model X electric SUV of the company because of a safety issue report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) about its brakes. The issue affects as many as 55,000 Model Xs from the year 2021 to 2023, centering on its failure to detect low brake fluid and not warn owners.

This latest recall from Tesla follows an earlier one this year, but it initially centered on its self-driving technology which was claimed to lead to crashes.

Tesla Model X Recall: Brake Safety Issues

(Photo : Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

A new recall report from the NHTSA from last week, October 11, stated that low brake fluid for the Tesla Model X EVs would not display a warning light that would alert drivers of this issue. The brake safety concern by the NHTSA details that it was first identified during production on September 19, earlier this year, with the Brake Integration team conducting testing to pinpoint the issue.

It was found that there was an incorrect setting of the controller's threshold range, responsible for detecting low brake fluid says Gizmodo.

Tesla was not aware of any accidents, crashes, injuries, or deaths that center on this issue, with the affected cars centering on models released from 2021 through 2023.

55,000 Model X Affected by Issue

According to the report, 54,676 Model X cars are affected by this issue, which may result in a reduction in the braking performance of the EV and lead to a crash.

Tesla already released a free over-the-air (OTA) software update to fix this problem, requiring owners to install version 2023.32.7 or later.

Tesla and its EVs' Recalls

In this year only, there have been various recalls that were imposed or voluntarily done by Tesla for its various electric vehicle fleets that were already sold or are used by the public. Among the latest is the seat belt issue present on the Model S and Model X, affecting its 2021 to 2023 models, particularly on the hardware of the part, with Tesla looking to fix its mistakes.

The most significant recall earlier this year was Tesla's recall for all of its variants including the Model 3, Model Y, Model S, and Model X, affecting 362,000 vehicles. This centered on the car's Full-Self Driving (FSD) feature that helps deliver the autonomous driving tech, stating that it experienced software issues that may allegedly lead to crashes as deemed by the NHTSA.

These two were not the only recall earlier this year for the Tesla EVs, as there was also a steering-related issue, among other complaints from users. Now, the NHTSA has raised another concern at Tesla which led to this new recall, centering on the Model X's brake safety concerns that would not warn its users when brake fluid is low, one that could result to accidents.