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Photography: Nicolas Asfouri (Getty Images)
Tesla has already drawn a lot of bad news in China this year, with officials scrutinizing its handling of customer data and protests claiming Chinese customer complaints will be ignored. The electric car maker added another controversy to the list this weekend: The Chinese market regulator says Tesla is recalling nearly 300,000 vehicles due to safety risks posed by the vehicles’ cruise control systems, which seem easy to activate by accident.
According to a Wall Street Journal and Reuters report, China’s State Administration of Market Regulation said on Saturday that the recall includes 249,855 Model 3 sedans and Model Y compact crossovers made at Tesla’s Shanghai plant, as well as 35,665 imported Model 3s, all produced between December 2019. and June 2021. The recall – a first for Tesla cars manufactured in China – can be completed remotely via the web through a software update of the cars’ active cruise control systems, which Tesla makes available free of charge.
“We apologize for the inconvenience this recall has caused to all car owners,” Tesla said through its official account on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, according to the newspaper. “Tesla will continue to improve safety in accordance with national requirements.”
After investigating the potential flaws, the Chinese regulator said the cars’ cruise control systems could be activated by accident, causing the car to accelerate unexpectedly. A Tesla spokesperson declined the newspaper’s request for comment.
The recall is the latest in a string of public relations fires that Tesla has had to put out as it tried to woo the world’s largest electric vehicle market. Last October, Tesla recalled nearly 30,000 imported Model S and Model X vehicles from China due to issues with the vehicle’s suspension systems. Concerns that the company’s cars could be used for spying have led China to ban Tesla cars from its military sites, and some local government institutions are reviewing Tesla ownership among their employees, Bloomberg reports. Facing pressure from the Chinese government, Tesla set up a data center in China in May to store data collected from its customers’ cars in the country — ostensibly in an effort to stay on the right side of Beijing’s cybersecurity laws. Protesters also wowed Tesla’s show at this year’s Shanghai Auto Show to draw attention to Chinese customers’ complaints about their car problems.
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