The voluntary recall of the Model X covers vehicles that were made before March 26.
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This is the first recall of Model X. As Tesla started deliveries of the vehicle in Sep 2015 and has been struggling with the production volume due to parts shortage, only 2,700 vehicles need to be recalled. Futuris SA is the supplier of the Model X’s third-row seats, and Tesla said it’s holding Futuris responsible for the costs. The recliner could slip in the event of an accident, which would cause the seat back to move forward and consequently injure the rear passengers.
Tesla added that it conducted 15 similar tests before starting North American deliveries with no problems arising.
The Model X recall “is out of an abundance of caution for our customers”, Jon McNeil, Tesla’s president of sales and service, said during a conference call recently, reports Bloomberg, “There have been no issues with any failures in the field”. A new recliner design with improved quality will be installed on affected vehicles, says Tesla. The Model X has not yet been provided to European clients. McNeill said Tesla expects to finish replacing the defective seats within five weeks at its factory-owned service centers. We are now constructing new third row seat backs to match all affected vehicles. Thus, the company will be able to complete the repairs within 5 weeks. Tesla has received no customer complaints regarding the defect, and is simply launching the recall as a pro-active measure. “We will accelerate this timing if possible”, reads the email.
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Until then, it wrote, it asks that owners “temporarily not have anyone sit in the third row seats while the auto is in use”. This means that there are times when the third-row seats would “fail” and the seat would fall forward. It is now working on a new third row seat back for the affected vehicles. Tesla will begin notifying customers of the recall on Monday.
