Tesla recalls 1.6 million vehicles in China for automatic steering issue

Jan. 5 (UPI) -- China's State Administration for Market Regulation Friday announced a recall of 1.6 million Model S Teslas to fix an automatic steering problem.

Tesla Motors (Beijing) Co., Ltd. and Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. filed the recall plan with the Chinese government which will see the companies patch the issue via a remote update providing " additional automatic assisted steering control," the Chinese government agency said in its statement.

The recall said the issue, which arises when the automatic assisted steering function is turned on, can lead drivers to "misuse the level 2 combined driving assistance function" and thus increase the risk of a crash.

The statement added in addition to the update, Tesla "further encourages drivers to perform their driving duties and comply with driving regulations when this function is enabled, so as to reduce the risk of collision caused by misuse of the assisted steering function."

Another 7,538 Tesla Model S and X vehicles in China are being recalled for a problem with the door unlock logic control that could cause doors to become unlocked during a crash.

The recalls will be done in stages and users of the Teslas can complete the software upgrades without taking the vehicles into shops for repairs.

In December more than 2 million Teslas were recalled in the United States over crash risks related to their autopilot controls.

After that recall was announced Democratic U.S. Senators Edward Markey and Richard Blumenthal urged Tesla to recall all vehicle components known by the company to pose risks to consumers.

The senators wrote "with extreme concern" about "Tesla's knowledge of safety flaws in its vehicles and concealment of the causes of these flaws from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration."

Their letter to Tesla noted that the NHTSA is currently conducting investigations into one suspension connection point, the fore link, and power steering after failures experienced by Tesla drivers.

They said in their letter that Tesla had recalled vehicles in China in 2020 over a front suspension aft link and rear suspension upper link but Teslas in other countries were not recalled for those components.

Tesla recalled 1.1 million Model S, Model X and Model 3 vehicles in China in May 2023 for a regenerative brake system issue that could potentially increase the risk of collision.