The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced that Tesla is recalling 826 Model Y crossovers in order to fix a potentially dangerous suspension defect. According to the NHTSA, there is a risk that the affected vehicles front suspension knuckle may fracture and cause the suspension links to separate.
As you can imagine, this is not safe at all, and it can definitely lead to a crash, especially if it happens at higher speeds or when the vehicle is going around a corner. We don’t know which vehicles are affected, or why so few are being recalled, given the fact that the defect is apparently present in vehicles vehicles with model years ranging from 2020 to 2022 (manufactured between June 16, 2020 and November 10, 2021).
According to the recall report published by the NHTSA,
The recall population includes select Model Y vehicles and was determined based upon a review of manufacturing and service records from Tesla and the supplier.
The front and rear suspension links on Model Y vehicles are attached to the knuckles. The knuckles may not have been manufactured to the correct strength specification, which may cause the knuckle to deform or fracture and may lead the suspension links to separate from the knuckle.
During the supplier’s manufacture of the knuckles, the quench tank fluid level may not have been sufficient to fully quench the knuckles during the heat treatment process.
If the knuckle deforms or fractures such that the suspension links separate from the knuckle, abnormal noise or handling may occur, which may be detectable by the customer.
Tesla also recently recalled some 2,800 vehicles for another suspension-related issue, namely the fact that the front left lateral suspension link may come loose from the vehicle and it affects Model 3s built between 2019 and 2021, as well as Model Ys built from 2020 through 2021.
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