Tesla is recalling 134,000 Model X and Model S cars with faulty touchscreens following regulator pressure

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Tesla is recalling 134,000 Model X and Model S cars with faulty touchscreens following regulator pressure
The recall affects almost 135,000 vehicles.Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images
  • Tesla is recalling 134,951 Model X and Model S vehicles with potentially faulty touchscreens.
  • The recall affects cars with 8GB media cards manufactured before March 2018.
  • Last month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) asked Tesla to recall the vehicles.
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Tesla started sending customers emails on Tuesday to tell them it's recalling some Model S and Model X cars that have been shown to develop touchscreen problems.

Electrek was the first to report the news, and obtained one of the emails sent by the electric car maker.

"Tesla has decided to voluntarily recall certain Model S and Model X vehicles built before March 2018 that are equipped with an 8GB embedded MultiMediaCard (eMMC) in the media control unit because the eMMC may malfunction due to accumulated wear," the email read.

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"Additionally, Tesla will upgrade, free of charge, the eMMC on your vehicle with an enhanced 64GB eMMC," Tesla added.

This comes after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) put pressure on Tesla to recall the vehicles, writing a letter to the company in January.

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The NHTSA originally asked for Tesla to recall roughly 158,000 vehicles. Reuters reported Tuesday the automaker is recalling 134,951.

The NHTSA said that once the cars' multimedia cards ran out of memory - which it said on average takes about five to six years - they would malfunction and affect various other systems, including the rear-view camera, the de-fogging system, and even the turn signals.

Tesla added in its email to customers on Tuesday that it had rolled out a software update to address these problems, and urged Tesla owners to make sure they had the latest update installed.

Tesla did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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