Tesla has recalled nearly two million vehicles in the United States, Reuters reported.
The automaker is recalling 1.85 million vehicles in North America due to a software issue which fails to detect an unlatched hood. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) advised that the faulty software could result in an unlatched hood fully opening and obscuring the driver’s view of the road.
In mid-June, Tesla began rolling out a software update which would detect an open hood and send an alert to drivers.
The recall affects Model 3, Model S, and Model X Teslas produced between 2021 and 2024, as well as Model Y cars produced between 2020 and 2024. According to Tesla, those models were fashioned with a hood latch that was made by Magna Closures Co. in China.
Tesla launched an investigation in March after numerous customers in China complained about the hood of their Model 3 and Model Y vehicles opening without warning. Tesla looked into similar incidents in North America and Europe, and though they were less common the company decided to issue a recall out of an abundance of caution.
This is Tesla’s fourth recall since November and its biggest of 2024. It's the largest recall for the company since 2.03 million vehicles were pulled off the road in December—numbering almost all of the Teslas in America—over issues related to its self-driving function. In April, Tesla recalled almost 4,000 vehicles over a serious issue related to acceleration. At the time, the company explained that "the accelerator pedal pad may dislodge and cause the pedal to become trapped by the interior trim,” making braking extremely difficult if not impossible.
Last week, the automaker posted its worst quarterly profit margin in more than five years.
