US ends long-running probe into Tesla rear-view camera after 2021 recall

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) had announced that the investigation of the potential rear-view camera failure in about 159,515 Tesla Model X and Model S vehicles was closed. NHTSA said that the Tesla recall of approximately 135,000 vehicles in 2021 seemed to be an adequate response to all the risks that could arise from the MCU’s failure. NHTSA reiterated its aim to carefully track the results of the recalling measure under this initiative.

The recall resulted from the NHTSA, which had formally asked for it over indication of touchscreen malfunctions. Generally, car manufacturers make use of voluntary remedies to solve the problems since then the safety agencies step in.

NHTSA focused critical attention on the serious implications of touchscreen malfunctions, pointing out that it could result in failure of important safety devices like rear-view cameras, exterior turn signals, and defogging systems, especially in adverse weather conditions.

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Noting that, moreover, the NHTSA reported that the glitch interferes with the performance of the ADAS in Autopilot advanced driver assistance system and the direction signals as they may lack the sound alerts and the driver sensing capabilities.

In a related step, NHTSA had started to look into Tesla recall of over two million cars in December, aiming at improving safety measures of Autopilot system. The probe went further with NHTSA’s initiating its investigation in June 2020 as a result of reports regarding the MCU failures that led to display malfunctions of the touchscreen. First, NHTSA focused on recalling 158,000 vehicles since the rest of the tools with downgraded processors produced after March were not included.

The investigation by NHTSA identified the expected highly limited service life of the MCU that made the availability of its lifetime only for 5 to 6 years that is obviously not enough if it is a crucial component concerning driver safety functions. Tesla however, admitted the fact that whatever units fail, the memory device subjected to error because of the limit of its storage capacity. By the end of February, Tesla records that nearly 77,000 of its 135,000 recalled vehicles have got back on the road already.