Tesla has issued a recall for nearly every vehicle it has ever sold because the safety warnings they display are smaller than federal law allows.
The recall applies to all Tesla models, including the:
Federal law specifies that safety warnings inside cars must be at least 3.2 mm (1/8 inch) high so that drivers can read them quickly while driving. The font size on Tesla warnings is too small to meet that standard.
“Warning lights with a smaller font size can make critical safety information on the instrument panel difficult to read, increasing the risk of a crash,” the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) explains.
Tesla has already sent an over-the-air software update to cars to correct the problem.
Tesla sometimes disputes the government’s characterizations of its updates as recalls because they don’t require owners to bring the cars to a repair center. Federal law requires automakers to fix safety problems at no charge and describes the process as a “recall” even when the solution is a software update.
Recall repairs, by law, are free. Many cars are recalled, often more than once, during their lifespans. When the cars require a physical repair, the automakers try to contact every owner to bring them in. But they don’t always reach them all. In this case, Tesla has fixed the issue remotely. Find out whether your car needs any free repairs with the VIN tool at our recall center.
