Tesla Recalls More Than 1 Million Vehicles for Defective Window Mechanisms

Usually, when you obstruct an automatic window mid-roll, the glass stops moving or reverses. For many Tesla drivers, however, that obstruction recognition isn’t working. As a result, “a closing window may exert excessive force by pinching a driver or passenger before retracting,” the NHTSA’s acknowledgment reads.

Tesla employees first noticed the failure during production testing in August, per the company’s recall notice. Tesla spent the next few weeks analyzing the failure under various conditions before deciding to notify the NHTSA. The NHTSA notes that the vehicles’ faulty window mechanism could “increase the risk of injury,” though Tesla’s recall notice states it hasn’t been made aware of any warranty claims, injuries, or deaths related to the issue.

The recall impacts some Tesla Model 3 cars years 2017 through 22; Model S cars years 2021 and 2022; Model X cars years 2021 and 2022; and Model Y SUVs years 2020 and 2021. Tesla plans to mail written notices of the recall to affected vehicle owners by November 15. It also plans to push out a free software update to rectify the window issue (though it didn’t specify when). Any new vehicles still in production as of September 13 have already received the update.

It’d be fair for Tesla owners to feel a bit exasperated by this point. Over just the last year, Tesla has recalled vehicles for suspension separation, infotainment panel issues, seatbelt chime errors, pedestrian warning failures, and a Full Self Driving error that caused vehicles to roll through stop signs. Some drivers are so fed up with their cars’ constant issues that they went on a hunger strike earlier this year, hoping to bring Elon Musk’s attention to quality control. (Musk never publicly acknowledged the strike, beyond publishing a snarky tweet about how much better he’d been feeling after fasting.) Still, much of Tesla’s fanbase is so dedicated that it’d take more than a few disasters to rattle their loyalty.

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