Tesla Recall 1.1 Million Products due to Troubled Power Window, Elon Musk Disagrees with the Term

Tesla recalled its product due to a problematic power window. (photo; Twitter @tesla)

JAKARTA – Tesla has again made a massive recall of its products. Nearly 1.1 million vehicles produced by the plant in the US were recalled because automatic window closing systems, also known as power windows, may not work properly once they detect a blockage that could increase the risk of injury.

The electric vehicle manufacturer told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that it would carry out an over-the-air software update of its automatic window closing system. This recall covers some 2017-2022 Model 3, 2020-2021 Y, and 2021-2022 Model S and Model X vehicles.

Tesla said it was not aware of any warranty claims, field reports, such as accidents, injuries, or deaths related to the recall.

NHTSA says window closing systems without a proper automatic reversal system can clamp down on drivers or passengers before they pull back, increasing the risk of injury.

NHTSA said the vehicle failed to comply with the requirements of the federal motor vehicle safety standard on automatic electric windows.

Tesla said that during product testing in August, employees identified the performance of its automatic window reversal system as having "greater-than-expected variation in response to pinch detection."

After extensive additional testing, Tesla determined that the vehicle's pinch detection and retraction performance in the test results did not meet the requirements of the automatic reversal system.

Tesla said that starting September 13, vehicles in production and pre-delivery will receive a software update that establishes the operation of the power-operated windows.

"This software update is to improve the behavior calibration of the vehicle's automatic window reversal system," Tesla said.

Tesla chief executive Elon Musk on Twitter Thursday, September 22, criticized the description of this “recall” as a car recall.

"The terminology is outdated & inaccurate. This is a minor over-the-air software update. To our knowledge, no injuries," he said.

Both NHTSA and Tesla in documents published last Thursday referred to the campaign as a recall.