New Tesla Recall – Cars Won’t Stop at Stop Signs

By B.N. Frank

In December 2021, Tesla recalled hundreds of thousands of its vehicles in the U.S. and China. Of course, Tesla recalls seem more common than not (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). In addition to recalls, various unfortunate incidents and issues have been reported and continue to be reported about Tesla vehicles (see 1, 2, 3). In 2021, the U.S. government started an investigation on Tesla’s Autopilot feature. Police officers injured by a Tesla being operated in autopilot also filed a lawsuit against the company. Nevertheless, the company continues to offer features that allow cars to drive customers. Some customers may think twice about using aforementioned features, though, since last month a driver operating in autopilot was charged with 2 counts of manslaughter. Today the company recalled almost 54,000 vehicles for rolling through stop signs.

From Ars Technica:

Tesla recalls 53,822 cars because they won’t stop at stop signs

The government is not happy with the software’s “rolling stop” function.

Tesla’s controversial hands-free driver-assistance system is the subject of yet another safety recall. In November, the automaker had to recall nearly 12,000 cars after a software update affected some of the cars’ forward-looking safety systems. Now, Tesla wants to recall 53,822 cars to remove a “rolling stop” feature that flouts traffic laws.

The issue affects Models 3, Y, S, and X running firmware 2020.40.4.10 or newer and participating in the “full self-driving” beta program. This software allows selectable moods for the car’s driving style—chill, average, and assertive. And it’s the last of those that’s the problem.

In assertive mode, if a Tesla approaches a four-way stop intersection at less than 5.6 mph (9 km/h) and it detects no other road users or pedestrians near the intersection, it will carry on traveling at that speed instead of coming to a complete stop at the stop sign.

Tesla first released the rolling stop function in October 2020. But in January of this year, it met with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration twice, deciding to issue the recall suspending the law-breaking feature the day after the second meeting.

Tesla’s 2021.44.30.15 firmware will disable the rolling stop ability. The automaker told the NHTSA that the update would begin being pushed out to cars in early February 2022.

The NHTSA is currently conducting two investigations into Tesla’s software features. In August 2021, the agency began looking at Tesla crashes involving the Autopilot driver-assistance system and emergency vehicles. In December 2021, the NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened a second investigation into Tesla’s (now disabled) “Passenger Play” feature, which allowed games to play on the infotainment screen while the car was being driven.

Of course Tesla AVs aren’t the only AVs with reported safety issues. A recent study has also revealed that as AVs become more available, this will likely cause more pollution and traffic congestion.

Additionally, other issues have been identified with Tesla vehicles including:

their batteries don’t last as long as promised
their batteries catch fire
Tesla fires are difficult to extinguish
Tesla vehicles emit high levels of harmful Electromagnetic Radiation

Of course, battery fires, car fires that are difficult to extinguish, and radiation emissions are a problem in other company’s Electric Vehicles (EVs) too (see 1, 2, 3, 4).

Activist Post reports regularly about Teslas, Autonomous Vehicles (AVs), Electric Vehicles (EVs) and other unsafe technology. For more information, visit our archives and the following websites:

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