Tesla Voluntarily Recalling 53,000 Model S & Model X Vehicles Due To Potential Parking Brake Issue

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

The ludicrous acceleration of a Tesla is one thing, but you also need solid brakes to go the other way — and parking brakes, for keeping put on a hill or steep driveway. Regarding the latter, Tesla is voluntarily recalling 53,000 Model S and Model X vehicles over a potential issue with the parking brake that could prevent it from releasing. In other words, it’s not a dramatic issue, but it does entail a fairly large recall.

An email sent to Tesla owners and posted on the company website read, “Specifically, we have determined that the electric parking brakes installed on Model S and Model X vehicles built between February and October 2016 may contain a small gear that could have been manufactured improperly by our third‑party supplier.”

Tesla also said on its website Thursday and in the email, “If the gear were to break, the brake would remain engaged, but the parking brake would also be stuck in place. Tesla estimates that only 5 percent of the cars it is recalling will be affected and that the replacement will take about 45 minutes.”

Bloomberg reports that even this non-issue caused shares to drop just over 1% on the news. Also reported was the part supplier that had the issue: “The faulty part was supplied by a unit of Italy’s Brembo SpA, a spokeswoman for Brembo North America Inc. confirmed in an emailed statement: ‘We are working with Tesla to ensure the issue is resolved quickly,’ she said.”

You never know which way a stock will head in a moment, but at least one analyst covering Tesla thinks the 1% drop is even further than makes sense.

“Our initial take on Tesla’s announcement today is that the sell-off in shares may be overdone and would generally view this as a relative ‘non-event,” James Albertine, senior analyst at Consumer Edge Research, wrote in a note to clients.

The only potentially significant concern, one would imagine, is servicing so many vehicles. However, a tesla spokesperson says the company has that under control.

“Service capacity will not be an issue,” a Tesla spokeswoman said in an email. The company’s mobile technicians will be able to check the vehicles quickly and deal with any Model S or Model X customer cars that need a fix.

We’ll keep you updated if there’s any more news on this, but that seems unlikely.

Related Stories:

Tesla Model X Named Top Overall Pick AAAs 2017 Green Car Guide

Tesla’s Semi Truck Reveal Leads Piper Jaffray Analyst To Downgrade Stocks Of Truck Companies


Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.

Latest CleanTechnica TV Video


Advertisement
 
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.

Cynthia Shahan

Cynthia Shahan, started writing after previously doing research and publishing work on natural birth practices. Words can be used improperly depending on the culture you are in. (Several unrelated publications) She has a degree in Education, Anthropology, Creative Writing, and was tutored in Art as a young child thanks to her father the Doctor. Pronouns: She/Her

Cynthia Shahan has 947 posts and counting. See all posts by Cynthia Shahan