Tesla recalls 125K vehicles from four models over safety issue

(NEXSTAR) – Tesla has announced yet another recall, this time to fix a potentially dangerous problem affecting the seatbelts.

The recall involves more than 125,000 vehicles over four different models, according to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The seatbelt warning system is supposed to emit a visual and audible signal when drivers don’t have their seatbelt fastened properly, but in some vehicles that warning may never happen, the NHTSA said.

The recall includes certain 2012-2024 Model S, 2015-2024 Model X, 2017-2023 Model 3, and 2020-2023 Model Y vehicles.

The NHTSA said that as of Tuesday, Tesla had identified 104 warranty claims that may be related to the condition. The company isn’t aware of any collisions, fatalities or injuries that may be related to the condition.

Tesla, which is headed by billionaire Elon Musk, plans to start deploying an over-the-air software update to the affected vehicles free of charge in June. The software update will remove dependency on the driver seat occupancy switch from the software and only rely on driver seat belt buckle and ignition status to activate the seat belt reminder signals.

Last month Tesla recalled 3,878 of its 2024 Cybertrucks after it discovered that the accelerator pedal can become stuck, potentially causing the vehicle to accelerate unintentionally and increase the risk of a crash.

In February the NHTSA announced the recall of nearly 2.2 million Tesla vehicles sold in the United States because some warning lights on the instrument panel are too small. The agency also said at the time that it had upgraded a 2023 investigation into Tesla steering problems to an engineering analysis, a step closer to a recall.

In April the NHTSA said that it was investigating whether last year’s recall of Tesla’s Autopilot driving system did enough to make sure drivers pay attention to the road.

Tesla is not the only car company issuing recalls in 2024, however. Earlier this month Ford recalled 243,000 pickups because the tail lights could go dark, making a crash more likely.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.