Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) has announced a recall of 30,000 of its Model S and Model X imported to china over potentially unsafe and faulty rear and front suspensions. This is a huge setback for the US EV car manufacturer, which has been facing growing competition in the world’s largest car market.
Tesla’s Model S and Model X recalled
The Chinese State Administration for Marketing Regulation announced the recall on Thursday night. Around 29,193 Model S and Model X cars produced between September 17, 2013, and August 16, 2017, and also 19,249 Model S cars produced between September 17, 2013, and October 15, 2018, are affected by the recall. The cars were manufactured in the US at the company’s Fremont assembly plant in California. Interestingly the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has not indicated whether there will be a similar recall in the US.
The recalled cars have two different suspension faults, with some having both defects. The Chinese regulator has asked the company to replace the rear linkages of the right and left front suspension and the upper linkages of the right and left rear suspension. Tesla has been ordered to replace the suspensions with improved ones on the agency’s cars at no cost to the car owners.
Tesla cars have had suspension issues before
In 2016, Elon Musk, the company’s CEO, defended himself from such a complaint regarding potentially faulty or unsafe suspensions in the Model S car in the US. Musk said that NHTSA didn’t find any safety concerns with the Model S suspension, and they didn’t want any more data from the company. He claimed that suspension complaints were fabricated.
This is the fourth recall of exported Tesla cars from the US. Previous recalls in china involved faulty airbags replacement produced by Takata and preventing or fixing steering issues. Quality issues of EVs like fires that star from faulty batteries threaten to weigh on consumers’ perception on electric cars.