A power steering assist issue could increase steering effort and the risk of a crash.
This week, Tesla started a recall covering nearly 378,000 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in the U.S. due to a power steering assist issue that can increase steering effort after coming to a stop, in certain situations. The loss of electronic power steering assist may cause a serious issue for some drivers, depending on when and where the condition occurs, and may increase the risk of an accident.
According to the recall report, certain vehicles may experience an “overvoltage breakdown” that may overstress motor drive components on the printed circuit board. If that happens, a warning will illuminate on the infotainment screen warning the driver of reduced steering assist. The company says it designed the system to prevent power steering loss at speed, though several drivers complained to the NHTSA that is not the case, as mentioned above. Prior to or just after the problem occurs, drivers described their steering as feeling “notchy” or “clicky”, in addition to steering requiring significantly more effort. Some were able to temporarily fix the issue by power cycling the vehicle, but the ODI’s investigation revealed at least 50 cases where vehicles were allegedly towed, including after blocking intersections.
The automaker says it is conducting a voluntary campaign after a non-U.S.-market regulator opened an inquiry into complaints of power steering loss in December 2023. However, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been working on its own probe into a “loss of steering control” condition since July 2023, and escalated its preliminary investigation to an engineering analysis of the problem in February 2024, following no fewer than 2,388 complaints of the defect. A majority of those complaints, per a report by the NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation, occurred at speeds between 5 and 35 mph.
Tesla claims the problem impacts certain 2023 model year variants of the Model 3 and Model Y, built between February 24 (or 28, in the Model 3’s case), 2023 and October 11, 2023. Impacted vehicles were equipped with a software release prior to 2023.38.4.
To be clear, the issue at the root of the NHTSA investigation and Tesla’s voluntary recall may not be directly connected, as those drivers could be experiencing a different steering-related problem than what this recall aims to address. Tesla itself states: “This voluntary recall determination is not in response to NHTSA’s investigation of allegations of loss of steering control (whether as part of EA24-001 or the prior PE23-014)” (emphasis added). The company’s statement on that matter can be found here.
Tesla claims the problem has already been sorted for 99% of impacted Model 3/Model Y drivers.
As has been the case with several of the company’s recalls over the past several years, Tesla’s recall signifies the loss of power steering assist is a software issue, rather than a hardware defect. Owners who regularly update their vehicles — in this case, past the relatively old 2023.38.4 release — will already have the remedy to this issue on their vehicles, and as such don’t need to visit the service center. The few drivers still running that software build or a prior one need only update their cars over-the-air.
Software release 2023.38.4 and later builds “prevent the overvoltage breakdown and overstress of motor drive components on the printed circuit board”, according to what Tesla told U.S. safety regulators. Vehicles produced after October 11, 2023 shipped with updated software, so late 2023 models as well as 2024 and 2025 cars shouldn’t be affected.
As of January 10, 2025, Tesla received 3,012 warranty claims and 570 field reports that may be related to this power steering loss issue. The company says it is not aware of any accidents directly related to this recall.
Owner notifications will be sent out no later than March 25, 2025. Tesla does not plan to reimburse owners for having this recall done, since the vehicles are still covered under warranty and the vast majority should have already had the issue corrected through subsequent over-the-air software updates.
