Following the United States, South Korea has also issued a voluntary corrective action (recall) for all Tesla vehicles equipped with the Autopilot autonomous driving assistance feature.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of South Korea announced on Jan. 4 that they are recalling a total of 72,674 vehicles across 13 models, including 63,991 units of Tesla’s Model Y, Model 3, Model X, and Model S, due to manufacturing defects discovered in these vehicles.
The Teslas, accounting for 88% of the total recalled vehicles, were found to have issues with the Autopilot feature. Autopilot is an advanced driver assistance system that automatically recognizes objects around the vehicle and, without the driver’s input, adjusts speed, maintains distance from other vehicles, and changes lanes.
The Ministry stated that they have determined a potential safety risk due to a software error in Tesla’s Autopilot system. The error may fail to provide adequate warning sounds and messages to the driver during Autopilot use. The recall, which encompasses all Tesla vehicles registered in the country, will commence on the Jan. 5.
Additionally, safety non-compliance issues were identified in 1,992 units of two Tesla models, including the Model X, where the vehicle’s door lock mechanism may fail to disengage in the event of a collision. Tesla plans to address these issues by distributing free wireless software updates.