Tesla recalls 1.8 million cars because their hoods can open while driving

Enlarge (credit: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The electric car manufacturer Tesla has had to issue a massive recall this month in order to fix faulty hood latches that can open while its cars are driving. The problem affects more than 1.8 million cars, which means it’s slightly smaller than the recall in December that applied to more than 2 million Teslas.

The problem, according to the official National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Part 573 safety recall report, affects model year 2021-2024 Model 3s (built between September 21, 2020 and June 2, 2024), model year 2021-2024 Model Ss (built between January 26, 2021 and July 15, 2024), model year 2021-2024 Model Xs (built between August 18, 2021 and July 15, 2024), and model year 2020-2024 Model Ys (built between January 9, 2020 and July 15, 2024).

The problem first became apparent to Tesla in March of this year after complaints about unintended hood opening from Chinese customers. By April it had identified the problem as deformation of the hood latch switch, “which could prevent the customer from being notified about an open hood state.”