Tesla recalls over 125,000 vehicles to fix seat belt warning system

Tesla is recalling more than 125,000 vehicles to fix a seat belt warning system that may increase the risk of an injury in a collision.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that the recall includes certain 2012-2024 Model S, 2015-2024 Model X, 2017-2023 Model 3, and 2020-2023 Model Y vehicles.

The seat belt warning system is supposed to provide audible and visual seat belt reminder signals to drivers to alert them that their seat belt isn't fastened. The NHTSA said that on certain vehicles, the audible and visual seat belt reminder signals were not going off at the time they were supposed to, which doesn't comply with federal safety requirements.

The NHTSA said that as of Tuesday, Tesla had identified 104 warranty claims that may be related to the condition. The company isn't aware of any collisions, fatalities or injuries that may be related to the condition.

Tesla, which is headed by billionaire Elon Musk, plans to start deploying an over-the-air software update to the affected vehicles free of charge in June. The software update will remove dependency on the driver seat occupancy switch from the software and only rely on driver seat belt buckle and ignition status to activate the seat belt reminder signals.

Last month Tesla recalled 3,878 of its 2024 Cybertrucks after it discovered that the accelerator pedal can become stuck, potentially causing the vehicle to accelerate unintentionally and increase the risk of a crash.

A software update alert appears on the screen of a Tesla Model 3 car on Friday in San Anselmo, California. AFP

In February the NHTSA announced the recall of nearly 2.2 million Tesla vehicles sold in the United States because some warning lights on the instrument panel are too small. The agency also said at the time that it had upgraded a 2023 investigation into Tesla steering problems to an engineering analysis, a step closer to a recall.

In April the NHTSA said that it was investigating whether last year’s recall of Tesla’s Autopilot driving system did enough to make sure drivers pay attention to the road.

Tesla shareholder sues Musk for alleged $7.5 billion insider trading

A Tesla shareholder filed a lawsuit on Thursday accusing CEO Elon Musk of insider trading when he sold over $7.5 billion of shares of the electric car maker in late 2022, saying the billionaire entrepreneur sold the shares before potentially disappointing production and delivery numbers were made public.

Shareholder Michael Perry, in the lawsuit filed in Delaware Chancery Court, said that Tesla's share price plummeted after the company's fourth-quarter numbers were made public on Jan. 2, 2023, and claimed that Musk "improperly benefited" by about $3 billion in insider profits.

"Musk exploited his position at Tesla, and he breached his fiduciary duties to Tesla," the lawsuit said, asking the court to direct Musk to return the profits made from the trades.

Elon Musk, chief executive officer of SpaceX and Tesla. File/Reuters

According to the lawsuit, Musk sold the shares on various dates in November 2022 and December 2022.

The lawsuit also accused Tesla's directors of breaching their fiduciary duty by allowing Musk to sell the shares.

Musk and Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

In the lawsuit, Perry said Musk – who in 2022 said demand for Tesla's vehicles was "excellent" – found out about the lower-than-expected numbers mid-November, with his access to real-time data, and sold his shares before the information was public.

Following news of vehicle price discounts that sparked demand concerns and the release of the numbers in January, Tesla's stock tanked.

"Had (Musk) waited to make these sales until after the release of material adverse news,... his sales would have netted him less than 55% of the amounts realised from his November and December 2022 sales," the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit is the latest legal headache for Musk.

It comes as Musk faces opposition from some Tesla shareholders who are set to vote on June 13 on whether to ratify his $56 billion pay package, which a Delaware judge voided in January because she found he improperly controlled the process.

Tesla is incorporated in Delaware.

Musk is also in the middle of a regulatory probe to determine whether he broke federal securities laws in 2022 when he bought stock in social media platform Twitter, which he later renamed X. Musk said the US Securities and Exchange Commission was trying to "harass" him through unwarranted investigations.

Musk and the top US markets regulator have been in a years-long feud, dating back to 2018, when he tweeted that he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private.

A separate shareholder lawsuit has accused Musk of defrauding X investors by delaying disclosure of his stake in the social media company to amass shares at lower prices.

Agencies