Tesla Inc. said it found a problem with its tire pressure tracking system that, if not fixed, increases the risk of a crash. Because of this, the electric car company is recalling about 700,000 cars.
The problem can be fixed with an over-the-air software update, which is good news for people who own the recalled cars.
Before the market opened, Tesla stock TSLA +2.27% went up 2.8%, which means it’s likely to end a three-day losing run. The stock had dropped 12.3% in the last three days. On December 17, it hit a high of $479.86.
That company said owners of the recalled cars would get letters in the mail on February 15, but some of those cars already have the new software. Owners of concerned vehicles don’t need to do anything else if their cars have software release 2024.38.7 or a later version.
Tesla said that owners of guided full-self-driving software 12.5.6.4, 13.1 or later don’t need to do anything else.
Cybertrucks for the model year 2024, Model 3s for the model years 2017 to 2024, and Model Ys for the model years 2020 to 2025 are the 694,304 cars that are impacted.
Tesla said that in these cars, the tire-pressure system warning light might not stay on, so the driver might not know that the tires are low. Also, people who own cars know that low tire pressure is a frequent problem in cold places.
As of Dec. 13, Tesla said there had been 76 warranty claims and one field report about the trouble with the tire pressure monitor.
“Tesla is not aware of any accidents, injuries, or deaths this condition has caused,” the company said.
As of Friday, Tesla’s stock had gone up 69.5% so far in 2024. All but 2% of those gains happened after the election. In 2023, the stock went up 101.7%.
