News: Tesla Issues Partial Model S Recall

Tesla Model S

Tesla Motors has issued a recall for some of its Model S vehicles due to a seat mount defect.

The recall will affect 1,228 vehicles that were manufactured between May 10th and June 8th of this year. According to Tesla, the problem is in the mounting bracket for the left hand latch of the second row seat.

The attachment strength of the bracket might not be as strong as intended, increasing the possibility that the seat back might not be properly retained during a crash. They describe the problem as being the result of changes to body side alignment in the factory resulting in a weakened weld.

Tesla is quick to point out that the weld has not broken in any of their vehicles and that there have been no customer complaints or reported injuries as a result of the weakened weld. Additionally, this was a problem that Tesla found on its own rather than having it brought to their attention by a regulatory agency.

The fix for the problem, which will cost Tesla about $150,000 total, involves simply strengthening the weakened weld bracket in affected vehicles. They’ve already done this on cars in the factory, so it’s just those cars in customer hands that need to be repaired.

Tesla will be notifying Model S owners with affected vehicles of the need to have the repair within the next several days. In a move that’s a lot different than what most of us are used to when our cars have recalls, owners won’t need to come to a service center to have their vehicle repaired.

Instead, Tesla will come out and pick up the car at a location convenient for customers and even provide a loaner vehicle if one is needed. Once the repair has been made a few hours later, Tesla will return the vehicle to the customer and they’ll be ready to get back out on the road.

Nicole Wakelin fell in love with cars as a teenager when she got to go for a ride in a Ferrari. It was red and it was fast and that was all that mattered. Game over. She considers things a bit more carefully now, but still has a weakness for fast, beautiful cars. Nicole also writes for NerdApproved and GeekMom.