Certain Tesla Model S and Model X EVs built at the Fremont factory in California and exported to China have been recalled in the latter market over two different suspension defects.
The safety campaign affects 29,193 units, which were assembled between September 17, 2013, and August 16, 2017, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) has revealed in a statement.
The electric vehicles are said to possibly have faulty front and rear suspensions, which, when being subjected to large impacts, could get damaged, increasing the risk of an accident. As noted above, there are two different suspension defects, although not all vehicles suffer from both.
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Even if Tesla does not acknowledge the defects, they will collaborate with local authorities. As a result, the company’s local technicians will address the issues by replacing the upper connecting links on the rear axle and the rear connecting links at the front, in the affected cars.
When contacted by Bloomberg, Tesla’s China representative declined to comment. They did not respond to Car&Driver either, and neither did the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
However, in a letter sent to the NHTSA last month, Tesla disagreed with the SAMR’s decision, stating that “(Tesla) believes the root cause of the issue is driver abuse, including that driver usage and expectation for damageability is uniquely severe in the China market. If the customer inputs an abuse load (e.g., curb impact, severe pothole strike, etc.), then the parts may be damaged, leading either to immediate failure or delayed failure from the compounding effects of the initial abuse and subsequent load input”.
They also added that “Tesla is not conducting a recall outside of China” because “there is no defect in the subject components and no associated safety-risk”.
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