Tesla loses its pieces: 120,000 recalls for detached steering wheels
In the same hours in which a Chinese broadcaster revealed that the Tesla Model Ys produced in Shanghai are assembled in just 2 and a half hours, the US road safety agency recalled 120,000 vehicles: they lose the steering wheels
Still calls in sight for the quintessential electric car, driven by the visionary Elon Musk . In fact, two complaints from as many consumers who complain that they found themselves – literally – at the wheel of their car were enough because the United States road safety agency (Nhtsa), not new to investigations into the brand (recently it has taken especially targeting the Autopilot function), would open an investigation into the Model Y.
TESLA WHO LOSE THE STEERING WHEEL
According to reports from the US media, the defect, attributable to the lack of the fixing bolt to the steering column, concerns cars produced in 2023, therefore just placed on the US market. The Nhtsa has announced that the problem could currently affect about 120,000 cars, all of which are recalled for checks and necessary repairs.
IT TAKES 2 AND A HALF HOURS TO MAKE A MODEL Y
In addition to being dangerous, the loss of steering wheels undoubtedly constitutes a slip-up for Tesla (which already at the beginning of the year had suffered the bad publicity caused by the testimony of Ashok Elluswamy , head of the Tesla division that deals with automatic piloting, forced to admit in court that the 2016 promo video still gives a false perception of the real capabilities of the self-driving system), all the more so since the investigation was opened while a New China TV service, which had the opportunity to film indoors he interior of the famous Gigafactory Shanghai (the subject of a recent modernization to make it even more efficient) revealed to the world that the construction of a Model Y, from the first operation to the end of the assembly, is completed in just 150 minutes: “I believe that from the at the last station each vehicle does not take more than 2 and a half hours”, the testimony of an employee of the ultra-fast chain.
A record that is currently unapproachable for anyone, since it usually takes between 35 and 40 hours to assemble a car and the manufacturers that have reduced the times have never managed to go beyond 15 to 20 hours. And it is known that the Texan manufacturer (first headquartered in California, but then the move of the headquarters to Texas in dispute with the administration of the western state) aims to further reduce downtime to churn out even more cars in the space of a day .
But, precisely, the news that recently manufactured Teslas are missing a bolt capable of determining the loss of steering wheels in models already on the market clashes with all this pursuit of efficiency and unbridled production.
THE LAST CALL FOR STEERING
After the maxi recall, virtual (in the form of an update) which involved around 1.1 million vehicles – that is an important part of the production of the now Texan brand – which, due to a malfunction of the automatic reversing system windows, as reported by Reuters , could not react correctly after detecting an obstacle, thus increasing the risk of injury, last November the electric car maker had decreed the urgency to proceed with a mandatory firmware update download for 40,000 Model S and Model X vehicles from 2017-2021.
According to reports , the recall was motivated by the fact that the electric cars in question could experience problems with the power steering on bad roads or after taking a pothole. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on that occasion had declared that the power steering problem could require greater effort in steering, especially at low speeds, increasing the risk of an accident. Tesla, for its part, had admitted to having received 314 reports of this problem although there is still no evidence that they are defects connected or attributable to the recall. However, the brand of Elon Musk 's electric car had also added that it was not aware of any injuries or deaths related to the problem.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/tesla-perde-i-pezzi-120mila-richiami-per-volanti-che-si-staccano/ on Fri, 17 Mar 2023 10:31:27 +0000.