Tesla power steering probe upgraded after thousands more incidents reported
- Reference: 1706895374
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/02/02/tesla_power_steering_probe_upgraded/
- Source link:
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) began inspecting power steering failures in 2023 Tesla Model 3 and Y vehicles in [1]late July after receiving 12 complaints. In the subsequent six months, the NHTSA received an additional 103 complaints, and with Tesla's help has identified an additional 2,176 incidents in which power steering in the vehicles failed partially or completely, the regulator [2]said [PDF].
Not including duplicates, a total of 2,191 power steering failure incidents have now been identified.
[3]
"A majority of allegations reported seeing a warning message, 'Steering assist reduced,' either before, during or after the loss of steering control. A portion of drivers described that their steering began to feel 'notchy' or 'clicky' either prior to or just after the incident," the NHTSA reported.
[4]
[5]
According to a summary of the NHTSA's research over the past six months, the power steering outages occurred both at startup and during operation, at various speeds and in various locations.
"There have been multiple allegations of drivers blocking intersections and/or roadways," NHTSA said. "ODI is aware of over 50 vehicles which were allegedly towed as a result of the condition from a variety of areas including, driveways, parking lots, side of road and intersections."
Don't you know that you're toxic?
Mere days after 25 California district attorneys [6]sued Musk's electric car factory for illegally disposing of hazardous waste at facilities around California, Tesla has settled and agreed to pay $1.5 million for dumping deadly detritus around the state.
According to the San Francisco District Attorney's office, Tesla illegally disposed of waste generated in the manufacturing and servicing of Tesla vehicles that included lubricating oils, brake cleaners, lead acid, batteries, antifreeze, weld spatter waste, cleaning solvents and other harmful materials in violation of California law.
"While electric vehicles may benefit the environment, the manufacturing and servicing of these vehicles still generates many harmful waste streams," said SF District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.
Along with paying a fine that amounts to 0.01 percent of its [7]2023 net profit of $14.9 billion, Tesla also agreed to train employees on handling hazardous waste and submit to third-party waste audits.
Surely that'll teach 'em.
In multiple instances, complainants said they were able to remedy the situation by turning their Muskmobile off and on again, but the fix was temporary and only a steering rack replacement was able to fully resolve the issue.
[8]Missed expectations, zero guidance: Tesla's 'great year' was anything but
[9]Tesla owners in deep freeze discover the cold, hard truth about EVs
[10]Tesla's latest Autopilot safety patch hits 1.6M Chinese vehicles
[11]Tesla Cybertruck gets cyberstuck during off-roading expedition
It appears the NHTSA is homing in on the steering racks as the cause of the issue, with Tesla supplying four steering rack part numbers to the NHTSA for its investigation. Two of the steering racks identified by Tesla were found in 2,187 of the complaints, with the remaining four reports not including a part number. The NHTSA believes some 334,569 vehicles may be affected.
It's not clear if the NHTSA is also looking into Tesla software as part of the engineering analysis; we asked, but the agency declined to comment citing the ongoing nature of its investigation.
[12]
An NHTSA engineering analysis is the final step before a potential recall - much like the one that was also [13]reported today [14]involving [PDF] [15]improper font sizes on warning indicators for brake, parking and antilock brake systems. According to the NHTSA, Tesla began fixing the issue, which affected 100 percent of vehicles, with an OTA software update late last month.
The warning font size recall is the second universal Tesla recall in the past three months, with the company [16]releasing a software update in December to add new safety features to Autopilot after the NHTSA determined its existing safety controls were "insufficient to prevent misuse."
Tesla didn't respond to questions from The Register for this story. ®
Get our [17]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/02/tesla_steering_problems/
[2] https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/inv/2024/INOA-EA24001-10341.pdf
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Zb10GC57D8kcoFPQQ6LtsQAAAIg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zb10GC57D8kcoFPQQ6LtsQAAAIg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Zb10GC57D8kcoFPQQ6LtsQAAAIg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/01/tesla-sued-by-25-california-counties-over-hazardous-waste-handling.html
[7] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1318605/000162828024002390/tsla-20231231.htm#i605b1b87e9dd4fc1a8af0ddafef749a2_16
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/25/tesla_conference_call/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/16/tesla_owners_in_deep_freeze/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/05/teslas_latest_autopilot_safety_patch/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/24/tesla_cybertruck_offroading_video/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zb10GC57D8kcoFPQQ6LtsQAAAIg&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-02/tesla-runs-afoul-of-font-size-rule-in-2-2-million-electric-cars
[14] https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2024/RCLRPT-24V051-2023.PDF
[15] https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/subtitle-B/chapter-V/part-571/subpart-B/section-571.135#:~:text=Unless%20otherwise%20specified%2C%20the%20words%20shall%20have%20letters%20not%20less%20than%203.2%20mm%20(1%E2%81%848%20inch)%20high%20and%20the%20letters%20and%20background%20shall%20be%20of%20contrasting%20colors%2C%20one%20of%20which%20is%20red
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2023/12/13/tesla_recall_autopilot_safety/
[17] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Woke mind virus
Please upvote or downvote
Re: Woke mind virus
I don’t even know what that means
Lucky for them...
... They're not initiating a probe into Nissan's power steering of the '80s and '90s - there'd surely be claims in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of vehicles.
Re: Lucky for them...
This is a little more serious than a loss of power steering -- it seems the steering racks are locking up and blocking manual steering, as well.
Re: Lucky for them...
Old cars were light weight, had narrow tires, and they had a lower steering gear ratio. Parking without assistance was difficult but they were drivable. I imagine it would take incredible strength to control a Tesla without power assistance. And the steering wheel would have to be bolted on correctly.
Re: Lucky for them...
"Old cars were light weight, had narrow tires, and they had a lower steering gear ratio. "
A few decades ago I went to pick up quite a large hire van. I was used to driving those without power steering, bit heavier than the Austin Maxi I had at the time (great car). That time they gave me a new model, so when I pulled hard on the wheel to make a turn when leaving the hire co building I discovered that it had power steering and came close to crashing into the petrol pumps. Fortunately it also had upgraded brakes so I just managed to stop in time. Next time I picked up a van I noticed that another customer had been less lucky and had indeed crashed into the petrol pumps.
Warning the customers about power steering was apparently beyond the wit of these folk.
Re: Lucky for them...
"Austin Maxi I had at the time (great car)."
I do believe that's the first time I've ever heard those words used together.
Icon - Memories of driving my fathers old one (With broken drivers seat back rest) & its smell.
On the Cybertruck the steering is steer by wire. There’s no physical connection between the steering rack and the steering wheel. I don’t know if that’s the same for other models of Tesla, but I’d say it’s highly worrying if they can’t even get the basics right.
The thing that astonishes me is that Tesla gets good ncap scores. How can that be given incidents and recalls of such a serious nature? Or does the same apply to other manufacturers - we just don’t hear about it because Tesla presents as an easy target to the press? Or maybe is it a dieselgate type scandal on the horizon - and Tesla is just good at passing tests.
NCAP is just crash testing, not other mechanical / electronic reliability or safety.
Not surprising though. They can't even design headlights which don't blind every other user on the road.
"On the Cybertruck the steering is steer by wire."
Are you sure that's right? As far as I'm aware in the US vehicles need a physical connection between the steering wheel and the steering mechanism. Certainly a requirement for trucks in the sense of heavy goods vehicles.
Power what now?
Power steering? What’s that? Never heard of it.
And my Austin 1800 gets twelve hogsheads to the bushel, and that’s the way I likes it.
Seriously though, power steering is automobile 101 stuff and has been since the 1970’s. I certainly hope it’s not software related - like so many other driving bits and pieces, that sort of thing should be its own independent - trusted technology - system.
Re: Power what now?
Two Austin (BMC\BL) references in one thread?
I am shocked ... shocked ...
"Tesla didn't respond to questions from The Register for this story. ®"
I am shocked ... shocked ... to find that Tesla Motors did not jump on this opportunity to explain the many advantages of locking one's steering while driving. In fact, I'm rather surprised they didn't charge extra for the feature.
So, can't even get power steering right
I'm sure Musk is going to claim that the technology is brand new and has teething problems.
Sheesh. Tesla is going ever further down on the list of cars I might wish to purchase.
Elon
Please upvote or downvote