Tesla will launch a software update to about 1.2 million cars in China – about half of the fleet sold in the country – to correct problems with electric steering and reverse cameras of vehicles that may pose safety risks.
The direction problem stems from a software problem that can cause failure to the electric steering system, state administration said to regulate the market in a statement on Friday. A possible failure in car’s reverse cameras can, in turn, damage driver’s field of view when revealing, increasing the risk of collisions.
Tesla will deploy an over-the-air software correction to 871,087 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles domestically to resolve the electric steering failure. Another 335,716 cars – a mixture of Model S and Model x Imported and Model 3 and Model Y and Model Y produced domestically – will receive an update for camera failure.
Vehicle owners who cannot receive the software update remotely will be contacted for free substitutions. Tesla presented a similar recall warning in the US earlier this month, involving about 240,000 cars.
Elon Musk’s electric vehicle manufacturer had sold about 2.3 million cars in China by the end of 2024, according to China’s Automotive Research and Technology Center. The company faces unprecedented competition from Chinese players like BYD in the world’s largest automotive market. Local car manufacturers are quickly innovating, offering attractive alternatives at various points of price.
Tesla recorded its first annual decline in vehicle delivery worldwide in more than a decade last year and narrowly maintained its leadership over BYD as the largest totally electric car saleswoman in 2024. It also witnessed the first drop in shipments. Annual from its factory in Shanghai since the installation began mass production in 2020.
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Its market share is also decreasing in China, with Teslas representing about 10.6% of total battery vehicle sales in retail battery last year, show CATRC data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence. In 2020, Tesla had a share of this market closer to 16%.
Separately, on Friday, Xiaomi recall 30,931 Sedan Sedans SU7 that were produced between February and November last year due to a software problem that posed a potential safety risk around the car’s intelligent parking feature, State administration informed market regulation in another statement.
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