Tesla Recalls 1.6 Million Electric Vehicles Sold in China over Autopilot Crashes

Tesla has announced a recall of over 1.6 million electric vehicles sold in China to reduce crashes caused by issues with their autopilot systems.

The automaker will be able to remotely fix the vehicles with software upgrades to come into compliance with the China State Administration for Market Regulation, reports Reuters.

The recall includes some imported Model S, Model X and Model 3 vehicles, as well as Model 3 and Model Y cars produced in China between August 2014 and December 2022.

The Chinese regulator reported that Tesla drivers may have misused their vehicles’ autopilot features, increasing dangerous collisions and other safety risks. The product recall, to be rolled out in multiple stages, mirrors the U.S. recall announced just last month. 

As Breitbart News reported on December 13, American safety regulators issued a statement to alert Tesla customers that Elon Musk’s company would be recalling nearly all vehicles sold in the United States.

Upwards of two million units across the automaker’s model lineup will be impacted by that recall, which also plans to address defective software to ensure drivers are correctly using the autopilot function. 

The United States recall came after two years of investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) into a series of crashes that occurred while the car was in the partially-automated driving mode.

While Tesla’s autopilot system is meant to keep the vehicle in its lane, drivers are still instructed to keep their hands on the steering wheel at all times and keep their eyes on the road.

Despite this, research shows that drivers tend to look away from the road more often while using autopilot, and that many of them believe their cars can drive themselves, which can lead to accidents.

Some accidents have been deadly. 

For the first time ever, California prosecutors have filed felony charges against a driver who caused a crash that killed two people in 2019 while using Tesla’s “Autopilot” feature. https://t.co/eEUicPfYRi

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) January 19, 2022

Tesla is facing “at least a dozen lawsuits in the United States over Autopilot, and several state and federal investigations related to the system,” reports the Messenger.

Musk, Tesla’s CEO, has long promised that fully self-driving vehicles that don’t need the driver’s undivided attention will be coming in the future.