A driver uses the map navigation feature on a touch screen control panel with the Tesla Motors Inc. software update. 8.0 inside a Tesla Model S P90D vehicle.
Christopher Goodney | Bloomberg | Getty Images
An important memory of Tesla in the United States has now spread to China, according to a new regulatory dossier from the Chinese State Administration for market regulation.
The presentation indicates that Elon Musk’s electric car company will recover up to 36,126 Model S and Model X vehicles in China due to touch screen failures. The cars were manufactured between 2013 and 2018 by Tesla in Fremont, California and exported to China.
Gasgoo, a Chinese news site about car trading, first reported the requests.
Tesla electric vehicles have a media control unit (also known as an “MCU”) that powers a touch screen where drivers see and control their entertainment, navigation, air conditioning, defrosting, and other vehicle functions.
The MCU contains various processors, memory devices, and other technical components. The memory devices of some Tesla MCUs have a limited “write cycle,” which means they don’t work well, not at all, after touching 3,000 program erase cycles.
When their memory devices fail, homeowners can experience unsettling touch screen shutdowns while driving and losing access to the controls they need to feel safe on the road or while parking. Sometimes drivers can restart their systems, but other times they completely lose access to the screen and touch screen controls.
Tesla first initiated a “warranty extension” in the United States to reimburse customers who had paid out of warranty and out of pocket to replace their media control units or to replace the eMMC memory devices they had. inside. Tesla later implemented a voluntary withdrawal in the U.S. following pressure from the federal vehicle safety authority, NHTSA.
The German Federal Motor Transport Authority (Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt or KBA) is currently investigating Tesla vehicles for the same touch screen failures.
In the fall of 2020, Tesla also recalled up to 48,442 Model S and X vehicles in China for suspension issues and about 870 vehicles with potentially faulty roofs.
Tesla’s touch screen memory in the United States affects about 135,000 vehicles. In both China and the US, Tesla has agreed to replace the 8GB eMMC memory devices in the media control units with a 64GB version.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
China is a lucrative market for Tesla and for electric vehicle manufacturers in general. The company began production at its relatively new factory in Shanghai, the first outside the U.S., in January last year.
According to JL Warren Capital, Tesla’s market share in the “new energy vehicle” category in China was around 12% last year, which means its cars are very popular, especially considering that car buyers in China are more price sensitive than those in the United States. (In 2020 and 2019, the Chinese government spent 11.3 billion and 14.4 billion RMB subsidizing the electric vehicle industry and Tesla obtained about 25% of the total subsidies).