Teslas recalled over corrosion issue
Tesla on Thursday issued what appears to be the largest recall to date of its luxury electric cars, saying it will retrofit a power steering component on 123,000 Model S sedans made before April 2016.
The Palo Alto company sent an email to customers whose cars are affected, saying it would contact each of them individually to set up a repair appointment when the needed parts are available in their regions.
The problem concerns excessive corrosion of power steering bolts in cold climates. Should the bolts break, the driver would still be able to steer the car, but without the assistance that power steering usually provides. That would make the car difficult to drive at low speeds and very difficult to parallel park.
“There have been no injuries or accidents due to this component, despite accumulating more than a billion miles of driving,” the email read.
The unusual corrosion appears to be confined to places that sprinkle calcium or magnesium road salts on icy roads, rather than standard sodium chloride, according to the company. The recall, Tesla emphasized, does not apply to the Model X sport utility vehicle or the new Model 3 sedan.
The company estimated that fewer than 1 percent of its cars in the United States have exhibited the unusual corrosion.
Tesla has issued voluntary recalls before, although not of quite this size. In 2015, for example, the company recalled about 90,000 Model S sedans over a seat belt issue. Last year, problems with the parking brake triggered a recall of 53,000 Model S sedans and Model Xs.
The recall comes during an anxious period for Tesla investors. Shares in the automaker plunged this week due to concerns about an upcoming production report and fears that the company’s Autopilot system may have played a role in a fatal car crash in the Bay Area. Shares were down more than 3 percent Thursday at 4 p.m. in after-hours trading, after news of the recall broke.