Tesla Motors Inc. said it will recall the Model X crossover to replace a third-row seat that failed an internal crash test.
Advertisement
The company warns owners of the affected cars not to allow passengers to sit in the third-row seat until it has been repaired.
The all-electric, falcon-winged Model X, which costs ,200, is Tesla’s latest vehicle.
Tesla’s first electric vehicle – the Model S – was a high-end, very expensive ($100,000) auto, great-looking and great-performing, no doubt, but hardly a product for the masses. According to Tesla’s president of sales and service John McNeil, the European Union tests are more “stringent”.
However, that’s not the only thing that Tesla borrowed from the Model X for the Model S upgrade. In this particular instance, Tesla’s slow production on the Model X actually turned out to be a good thing insofar as they were able to catch the problem with a relatively small number of affected cars on the road.
Then, last November, it recalled 90,000 Model Ses to check the strength of their seat belts after it discovered a single vehicle in Europe with a “front seat belt that was not properly connected to the outboard lap pretensioner”, it told its customers.
A fix to this issue is already in place. Tesla Motors is holding part supplier Futuris SA responsible for the defect, and will replace the recliner with one co-developed in-house.
At the debut of the Model X in September, Musk highlighted the SUV’s air filtration system, saying it was so advanced it would protect occupants from a chemical attack and would be handy to have in an apocalyptic scenario.
Tesla has had two previous seat safety recalls. Model X production has not been the easiest for the company, either.
The good news is that there have been no real-world reports of similar seat failures in the Model X. The bad news is that replacement seat backs won’t be available for up to five more weeks.
Advertisement
“The stock ended trading up on it because Tesla was proactive in its recall”.
