Tesla is rolling out a firmware update to more than 817,000 vehicles in the US due to a faulty seat belt reminder chime.
The fault, according to a report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), covers 2021-2022 Model S and Model X, 2017-2022 Model 3, and 2019-2022 Model Y sedans and SUVs.
The Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, issued by NHTSA, require an audible seat belt reminder chime to activate upon vehicle start if the driver has not buckled in. It appears a software error prevented the chime from activating under certain circumstances where the notification was interrupted. For example, if the driver started the car—triggering a warning—then left and returned without buckling up, the software wouldn’t play the chime a second time.
Tesla says it’s not aware of any “warranty claims, field reports, crashes, injuries or fatalities related to the condition.” The automaker already released a firmware update (2021.43.101.1) to correct the software error; a separate over-the-air deployment (2022.4.5) will be delivered to vehicles this month. No further action is required from owners.
This is Tesla’s second run-in with NHTSA this week, following a recent update to remove the Rolling Stop feature from Tesla Model S, X, 3, and Y vehicles equipped with the optional Full Self-Driving add-on. Tesla is also dealing with 107 reports of “phantom braking” over the past three months for Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. There were only 34 reports in the previous 22 months.
