More than 1.6 million Tesla cars recalled in China

Tesla is forced to recall more than 1.6 million cars due to problems with its control software and door locking systems. The fault is present on S, X, 3 and Y models and 7538 imported vehicles.

Since the problem is of a software nature, owners will not need to take their electric horse to the salon or for service. Tesla is said to have fixed the bug via a remote software update (OTR). The timetable for the fix is not yet known.

It's not the first time that Tesla has had to solve a software conundrum for its vehicles. Last month, 2 million cars in the US had to be recalled for problems with the Autopilot software. In May last year, Chinese owners again had problems with the acceleration and braking system.

In 2022, they had to recall 128,000 vehicles due to problems with the rear motor inverter.

Although the error will be resolved remotely, the Chinese regulator SAMR (State Administration for Market Regulation) still characterized the situation as a recall.

Tesla will issue an over-the-air software update to a total of 1,610,105 vehicles, including imported Model S and X models and Chinese-made Model 3 and Y models built between 2014 and 2023, SAMR said.

The patch will fix problems with the auto-guidance function and consequently reduce the chance of accidents.

"For vehicles under this recall, with the automatic steering function turned on, the driver may incorrectly use the second-level combined assisted driving function, which increases the risk of vehicle collision and endangers safety," explained the Chinese regulator.

Separately, Tesla will also upgrade the software for 7,538 Model S and X cars to fix an issue with doors that can unlock in a crash.

Frequent software problems are not good news for the American giant. It was recently overtaken by the Chinese manufacturer BYD in terms of sales figures, so Tesla will have to eliminate the aforementioned mistakes as soon as possible and make sure that such mistakes do not occur in the future.

China is a very important market for Tesla, where until now they have diligently recruited new owners with subsidies. Tesla also built the first gigafactory in Shanghai to produce 947,000 cars in 2023.

China also wants the majority of its transport fleet to be electric by 2035, and is understandably relying on Tesla among others.