Tesla recalls almost 50,000 of its Model S and X vehicles from China over faulty suspension

EV maker Tesla is recalling up to 50,000 of its Model S and Model X vehicles in China, over suspected faulty and unsafe suspensions. The announcement was made by the China State Administration for Market Regulation on Thursday night.

The shocking announcement came after Tesla reported its third quarter’s results on Wednesday. Shares of Tesla which rose 5% in pre-market trading on Thursday, fell nearly 2% on Friday.

According to the Chinese auto industry news site, Gasgoo, the recall affects 29,193 imported Model Ss and Model Xs, which were produced between September 17, 2013, and August 16, 2017. It also includes 19,249 imported Models Ss produced between September 17, 2013 and October 15, 2018. The electric vehicles were all manufactured at Tesla’s Freemont, California vehicle assembly plant.

There has been no reaction yet from the U.S. vehicle safety authority, The National Highway Traffic Safety to determine whether or not a similar recall in the U.S. may happen.  

The Chinese agency has asked Tesla to replace the faulty rear linkages of the vehicles’ left and right front suspension and the upper linkages of the left and right rear suspension with an improved version for all the recall vehicles at no additional costs to the owners.

In 2016, there was a similar case of faulty suspensions in the Model S in the U.S., but Tesla CEO Elon Must defended himself. He then declared in a corporate blog post and on Twitter that the NHTSA “found no safety concern with the Model S suspension and have no further need for data from us on this matter.” Adding that the complaints were fabricated.

Once again, the NHTSA is involved in the recall case between China and Tesla. In a statement sent to CNBC, the agency said:

“NHTSA is aware of the Tesla recall due to suspension problems in China. At this time, the agency has not received significant complaints related to these issues in the United States. The agency is in contact with Tesla and monitoring the situation closely, and will not hesitate to take action to protect the public against unreasonable safety risks. If you think your vehicle may have a safety defect that isn’t part of a current recall, contact NHTSA.”

This recall will be Tesla’s fourth recall in China of vehicles produced in the US and exported to China. Other recalls in China involved replacements of faulty airbags and fixing of steering problems.

While Tesla is yet to officially address the issue, it has denied the claims and instead, blames it on driver abuse. Saying that “driver usage and expectation for damageability is uniquely severe in the China market. If the customer inputs an abuse load (e.g., to curb impact, severe pothole strike, etc.), then the parts may be damaged, leading either to immediate failure or delayed failure from the compounding effects of the initial abuse and subsequent load input.”

While Tesla disagrees with the Chinese regulators over the recall, the company will proceed with a voluntary recall to avoid “carrying a heavy burden through the Chinese administrative process.”