Tesla forced to recall millions of cars to fix major safety flaw
Callum Jones
Featured Image Credit: Smith Collection/Gado/Contributor/Slaven Vlasic/Stringer
Tesla has been forced to recall more than two million cars to fix a major safety flaw.
Safety in relation to Tesla's has been a hot topic of conversation recently as Musk revealed the new Cybertruck coming from the manufacturer last month.
The latest release has been touted by Musk as safe, with the billionaire saying that if the car 'had an argument' with another vehicle then 'you will win'.
Advert
But experts on car safety have raised concerns about the potential danger that the Cybertruck could pose.
In particular, they expressed concerns about the material used on the body of the car, which Tesla describes as 'ultra-hard stainless-steel'.
Many modern cars have a safety feature called a 'crumple zone'. This means that a portion of the car is designed to collapse in the event of a crash.
This might sound counterintuitive, but in practice it means that the force of the impact is absorbed by the crumple zone, instead of the occupants.
But the Cybertruck does not appear to have this feature, seen as the steel material wouldn't crumple as easily.
Amid all the fears, millions of Tesla cars have now been recalled as a US auto-safety regulator has said some of the cars' Autopilot system does not do enough to prevent misuse and needs to be fixed immediately.
An investigation has found the driver assistance function is not suitable in keeping drivers engaged and could lead to foreseeable misuse.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is continuing to investigate safety concerns with Teslas.
An NHTSA spokesperson told Bloomberg on Wednesday: "Automated technology holds great promise for improving safety, but only when it is deployed responsibly.
"Today’s action is an example of improving automated systems by prioritising safety."
Musk said he would send an update 'over the air' to fix the issue, which happens automatically and does not require a trip to the dealership - though the the US regulator still refers to this as a recall.
UNILAD has reached out to the NHTSA for comment.
Perhaps the most awkward moment for Musk came in 2019 when he asked Tesla design chief Franz von Holshausen to try and break the 'shatterproof' glass of a Cybertruck during a launch demo.
"You want a truck that's really tough, not fake tough,” he said at the time.
"You want a truck you can take a sledgehammer to, a truck that won't scratch, doesn't dent."
But when von Holshausen launched a steel ball at the car, he actually ended up breaking two windows... yikes.