Tesla Issues a recall of 321,628 Model 3 and Y Over Faulty Taillights

The fault is within the firmware, where the faulty coding might result in the lights not illuminating, posing a regulatory and safety problem that Tesla plans to resolve with an over-the-air update

Tesla has issued a third massive recall, hitting 321,628 vehicles as a result of an issue that affects the Model 3 and the Model Y’s taillights. The company states that a firmware issue may prevent the lights from illuminating, thus potentially causing issues in night driving scenarios, and impacting the safety of the occupants and fellow drivers on the road. According to info released by the company, the fault was first brought to Tesla’s attention in October, largely in foreign markets. The customers overseas complained that their taillights were not illuminating. As this is a regulatory and safety problem, which might increase the risk of accidents, Tesla had to react.

In turn, following the complaints, Tesla looked at the log data and firmware release details of the affected Model 3s and Ys. Its investigation found that, in rare cases, a firmware anomaly may cause false fault detections during the vehicle wake-up process that could cause one or both tail lamps to fail to illuminate. According to Tesla, the issue is limited to taillights only. The brake lights, turn signals, and backup lights are unaffected and continue to work, despite the fault in Tesla’s firmware.

This recall – the largest this month – impacts Model 3s made between October 19 and November 5, 2022, as well as Model Ys, made between May 24, 2020, and November 9, 2022, affecting 321,628 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. Tesla will push the solution to this fault in a simple and elegant way: through an over-the-air update to its customers that corrects the firmware anomaly. Vehicles built after November 6, 2022, were shipped with the new software, and should not, therefore, be at risk of demonstrating this issue.

This is what progress looks like.