Tesla owners have been banned from making their cars 'fart' after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it violated safety standards.
The electric carmaker is recalling nearly 579,000 vehicles in the United States as a result of the government agency's findings, marking the fourth recall made public in the last two weeks.
It comes as US safety regulators increase scrutiny on Tesla, with two of the recalls relating to violations of federal motor vehicle safety standards, while the others relate to software errors.
Addressing the latest recall on Thursday, February 10, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration explained that Tesla's cars and SUVs have what Tesla has dubbed a 'Boombox' function, which allows drivers to play sounds through external front speakers on the vehicle while it is moving, effectively turning it into a boombox on wheels.
The feature was first debuted in a software update in 2020, according to Input Mag, and was reportedly presented as a way to help increase pedestrian visibility through warning sounds. One of the 'warning sounds' included in the update was a 'fart' setting, meaning drivers could draw attention to their cars with the sound of flatulence.
However, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that the 'Boombox' feature violates the federal safety standards that require pedestrian warning noises for electric cars, which are known to make little noise when in motion.
Per The Guardian, the agency explained, 'The Boombox functionality allows a customer to play preset or custom sounds through the PWS [pedestrian warning system] external speaker when the vehicle is parked or in motion. While Boombox and the pedestrian alert sound are mutually exclusive sounds, sounds emitted using Boombox could be construed to obscure or prevent the PWS from complying [with safety standards].'
Footage shared online shows Tesla drivers putting the Boombox function to use, with one Twitter user describing it as an 'immature person's dream' as they shared a video of a Tesla playing the music of an ice cream van.
Tesla is said not to be aware of any crashes or injuries caused by misuse of the feature, but it is set to be repaired with an over-the-air software update that will disable the 'Boombox' feature when the car is in drive, reverse or neutral, the agency said.
The recall relates to certain Tesla Model X, S and Y vehicles from 2020 through to 2022 , as well as Model 3s from 2017 through to 2022.
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Emily Brown