Tesla's Safety Recall for 439 Roadster Electric Vehicles

Tesla’s Safety Recall for 439 Roadster Electric Vehicles

One-third of Tesla’s total production affected in voluntary safety recall

Eric Wesoff October 04, 2010

Eric Wesoff

Editor-at-Large
Greentech Media

Eric Wesoff is Editor-at-Large at Greentech Media. Prior to joining GTM, Eric Wesoff founded Sage Marketing Partners in 2000 to provide sales and marketing-consulting services to venture-capital firms and their portfolio companies in the alternative energy and telecommunications sectors. Mr. Wesoff has become a well-known, respected authority and speaker in these fields.

His expertise covers solar power, fuel cells, biofuels and advanced batteries. His strengths are in market research and analysis, business development and due diligence for investors. He frequently consults for energy startups and Silicon Valley's premier venture capitalists.

Building cars is hard. And Tesla (Nsdq:TSLA), the recently public luxury EV company is learning about that with the recent news of a "voluntary safety recall" of about one-third of the total vehicles shipped. One-third sounds like a lot, but it's actually only a few hundred cars. Compare that to the recent BMW recall which is affecting hundreds of thousands of cars.

From the Tesla website:

"Tesla Motors has launched a voluntary safety recall on Roadster models 2.0 and 2.5. The recall involves the 12V low voltage auxiliary cable from a redundant back-up system that provides power to various systems, including the headlamps, taillights, turn signals and hazard lights, and airbags in the unlikely event the primary 12V power fails or drops below a minimum threshold value.

Located forward of the passenger side front wheel, behind the headlamp, the 12V low-voltage auxiliary cable is physically isolated from the main battery pack in the rear of the car.

Tesla decided to initiate a recall after the low-voltage auxiliary cable in a single vehicle chafed against the edge of a carbon fiber panel in the vehicle, causing a short, smoke and possible fire behind the right front headlamp of the vehicle. This issue is limited to the 12V low-voltage auxiliary cable and does not involve the main battery pack or main power system.

Once aware of this single incident, Tesla quickly determined that a voluntary recall was an appropriate precautionary measure. The recall affects 439 Roadsters.

Tesla has made corresponding regulatory agencies aware of the discovery and has already initiated a correction in customer cars. The correction involves checking the routing of the 12V low voltage auxiliary cable and installing a protective sleeve over it. Tesla’s Service team has started notifying customers via email and has initiated a mailing campaign. Tesla Service Rangers can perform the service at customers’ homes or offices. The service takes approximately one hour.

This recall does not impact earlier Roadster 1.5 vehicles (VIN ending with 500 or before), as these cars do not include the 12V auxiliary cable in question."

Obviously, reacting in a fast and forthright manner is the way to go for Tesla in this situation. Tesla's stock price remains unchanged as of this morning.