Toyota’s Surprise CEO Change Signals Strategic Shift Amid Global Auto Turmoil 
Nintendo Shares Slide After Earnings Miss Raises Switch 2 Margin Concerns 
Ford and Geely Explore Strategic Manufacturing Partnership in Europe 
Rio Tinto Shares Hit Record High After Ending Glencore Merger Talks 
Sony Q3 Profit Jumps on Gaming and Image Sensors, Full-Year Outlook Raised 
Nvidia, ByteDance, and the U.S.-China AI Chip Standoff Over H200 Exports 
Anthropic Eyes $350 Billion Valuation as AI Funding and Share Sale Accelerate 
SpaceX Pushes for Early Stock Index Inclusion Ahead of Potential Record-Breaking IPO 
SpaceX Prioritizes Moon Mission Before Mars as Starship Development Accelerates 
OpenAI Expands Enterprise AI Strategy With Major Hiring Push Ahead of New Business Offering 
Missouri Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Challenging Starbucks’ Diversity and Inclusion Policies 
CK Hutchison Launches Arbitration After Panama Court Revokes Canal Port Licences 
AMD Shares Slide Despite Earnings Beat as Cautious Revenue Outlook Weighs on Stock 
Nvidia Nears $20 Billion OpenAI Investment as AI Funding Race Intensifies 
Instagram Outage Disrupts Thousands of U.S. Users 
TSMC Eyes 3nm Chip Production in Japan with $17 Billion Kumamoto Investment 
Global PC Makers Eye Chinese Memory Chip Suppliers Amid Ongoing Supply Crunch 
Tesla Inc. is recalling a total of 159 units of its Model S and Model X Vehicles. The U.S. National National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) indicated that the cause of the recall was a defect in the electric cars’ airbags.
According to Reuters, the NHTSA said there is a risk of an injury and the percentage that this will occur increases in case of a crash. The airbags in the said Tesla EV models may deploy incorrectly and may result in harm to the driver and passengers.
Safety Recall Details
In the safety recall report from the NHTSA, the agency outlined the safety issue with the inflatable cushioning equipment in vehicles that are typically installed to provide supplemental protection to divers.
It stated that “a steering wheel that is equipped with a driver airbag variant that is designed for another steering wheel variant may decrease airbag performance during deployment, which may increase the risk of injury during a collision.”
The NHTSA added that the cause of concern is that “during vehicle servicing of certain vehicles to retrofit each vehicle with the alternate steering wheel per the customer’s request, the service operator may have equipped the alternate steering wheel with the incorrect driver airbag variant.”
The Affected Tesla Models
The affected Tesla EVs in this latest recall are the Model S and Model X included in the batch of units with 2021 to 2023 model years. It was said that the defect was partly because the affected vehicles are offered with both a yoke style and a traditional round steering wheel.
Teslarati reported that the NHTSA pointed out that Tesla should have used a different type of airbags in the cars, and based the choice according to the style of the steering wheel. Meanwhile, Tesla already informed the dealers about the recall this week and owners are set to be officially notified on Jan. 2, 2024.
Photo by: Reet Talreja/Unsplash
