Tesla could have put in the unsuitable airbag for Mannequin S and Mannequin X house owners who opted to modify from the out there steering yoke again to the steering wheel, or vice versa.
That’s in accordance with recall paperwork posted late final week by the federal authorities and dated November 3.
The frontal airbag itself is completely different between the 2 steering setups, and Tesla lays out the hazard: “An air bag that isn’t designed to operate with the substitute steering yoke or wheel could deploy incorrectly, growing the chance of harm throughout a crash.” Tesla says it’s not conscious of any accidents associated to the change, although.
![2022 Tesla Model S Plaid 2022 Tesla Model S Plaid](https://images.hgmsites.net/lrg/2022-tesla-model-s_100849999_l.jpg)
2022 Tesla Mannequin S Plaid
The pool of potential automobiles made a part of this recall is small. Tesla might want to bodily examine 159 automobiles within the U.S., in accordance with recall paperwork, and it’ll notify house owners by January 2, 2024.
The recall began with situations famous in Europe by Tesla Service in October. There, not less than 12 automobiles with spherical steering wheels have been retrofitted with yokes however not with the brand new airbag model designed for the yoke. An engineering examine of automobiles within the U.S. and U.Ok. later decided that not less than two steering-wheel automobiles had obtained the airbag supposed for the yoke.
![2022 Tesla Model S Plaid 2022 Tesla Model S Plaid](https://images.hgmsites.net/lrg/2022-tesla-model-s_100849988_l.jpg)
2022 Tesla Mannequin S Plaid
Tesla delivered its first yoke-equipped Mannequin S Plaid in June 2021. Whereas it and the Mannequin X are the primary regular-production automobiles to include one, Tesla wasn’t the primary automaker to entertain the potential for a yoke. As Inexperienced Automotive Stories identified final 12 months, GM had thought-about a steering yoke within the Nineteen Eighties in ideas.
However there could have been good motive why different automakers hadn’t made the leap. Those that took the earliest deliveries of vehicles with the yoke appeared to put on the reward of the setup, however Client Stories then evaluated a Mannequin S with the yoke early on and known as it not only a ache to make use of however a potential security concern, instructed tougher accident avoidance and livability points at parking speeds.
![Toyota bZ4X yoke layout Toyota bZ4X yoke layout](https://images.hgmsites.net/lrg/toyota-bz4x-yoke-layout_100813251_l.jpg)
Toyota bZ4X yoke format
Toyota’s Lexus luxurious model could have discovered a strategy to do the yoke higher, although. As Inexperienced Automotive Stories sampled final 12 months, a Lexus RX 450e yoke (not but for the U.S.) combines steer-by-wire tech with a variable-ratio system permitting simply 150 levels of rotation lock-to-lock—doubtless avoiding most of the points CR pointed to.
The yoke isn’t the one steering-wheel subject Tesla has needed to face in latest months. The NHTSA in March introduced an investigation of a number of alleged situations by which Mannequin Y steering wheels fell off whereas the automobile was in movement. That subject, associated to a unfastened fastener, prompted a small recall this previous June.