Tesla recalls 239,000 US vehicles over rear-view camera issue

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Tesla said on Friday it is recalling about 239,000 vehicles in the United States because rear-view cameras may fail to work.

The development comes days after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a probe into 2.6 million Tesla vehicles in the U.S. over reports of crashes involving a feature that allows users to move their cars remotely.

Tesla said a reverse current may occur while powering up the vehicle, which could cause a short circuit on the car's computer board and result in the rear-view camera becoming inoperative, the automaker said.

The automaker said the issue was the result of a sequence of specific software and hardware configurations, coupled with

colder temperatures.

Tesla said it has already pushed a software update to vehicles that changes the vehicle power up sequence to prevent the shorting failure. Tesla will identify any vehicles with a circuit board issue and replace the car's computer if necessary.

The automaker launched an investigation after seeing an increase in car computer replacements relating to short circuit issues in November.

Tesla said it has 887 warranty claims and 68 field reports related to the recall but said it is not aware of any collisions, injuries or fatalities related to the condition

Tesla said Model 3, Model S and Model X vehicles in production also received a different car computer variant after Dec. 16 to address the issue.

The issue affects 2024-25 Model 3 and Model S vehicles and 2023-25 Model X and Model Y.

Tesla had the largest number of recalls in the U.S. with 5.1 million vehicles affected, but all issues can be addressed through a software update, recall management firm Bizzycar said in a report.

Advanced vehicle technologies led to a spike in electrical system recalls last year, affecting 6.3 million vehicles in 2024, according to the report.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru and David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Franklin Paul)