Tesla Inc. will make a software fix to more than 285,000 cars in China, or most of the vehicles it delivered there in recent years, to address a safety issue identified by the country¡¯s regulator.
In many cases the recall is expected to be done remotely with an online update to the cars¡¯ active cruise control feature. Tesla will upgrade the software for free.
¡°This is a black eye for Tesla in a key China region which will be a headwind in the near term to overcome,¡± said Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities. ¡°It¡¯s a lingering issue but clearly China put its foot down and Tesla needs to do a wide-scale recall.¡±
The State Administration for Market Regulation said in a statement on Saturday that the action would involve some 211,256 locally produced Model 3 vehicles and 35,665 imported ones, as well as 38,599 China-made Model Ys.
The cars¡¯ autopilot systems can be activated automatically, potentially leading to crashes from sudden acceleration, the Chinese agency said.
¡°We apologize for the inconvenience caused by this recall to all car owners,¡± Tesla said in a notice through its official customer support account on Chinese social media platform Weibo. ¡°Tesla will continue to improve safety in strict accordance with national requirements.¡±
Tesla has faced various setbacks in China over recent months. A protest at the Shanghai auto show in mid-April went viral, while there was concern a number of crashes would sour public opinion toward billionaire Elon Musk¡¯s California-based company.
Some local governments and official institutions were also reviewing Tesla ownership among their staff, citing concerns that the cars pose security risks, Bloomberg News reported. Still, a sales surge of the China-made Model Y in May eased the worries to some extent.
Local registration data as of May shows Tesla delivered more than 275,000 imported and domestically-made Model 3s and Model Ys in China since 2019.
The action announced Saturday will include certain imported Model 3 cars produced between Jan. 12 and Nov. 27, 2019, some locally produced Model 3 made between Dec. 19, 2019, and June 7, 2021, and Model Y Teslas manufactured this year through June 7.
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