Tesla Mannequin X seatbelt failures spur a brand new federal investigation

The Nationwide Freeway and Site visitors Security Administration (NHTSA) is currently investigating (pdf) two separate non-crash-related seatbelt failures that occurred in newer Tesla Mannequin X autos (via NBC News).

NHTSA’s Workplace of Defects Investigation (ODI) notes two complaints from Mannequin X house owners saying their entrance security belts failed to remain linked to the seat belt anchor pretensioner. Each house owners reported that the separation occurred whereas driving their 2022 and 2023 model-year Mannequin X SUVs. The investigators write that “each autos had been delivered to the house owners with insufficiently linked anchor linkages.”

NHTSA first opened the investigation on March twenty fourth and says as much as 50,000 or so Mannequin X autos could possibly be affected by the problem. In each circumstances, the company says “connection failure” occurred within the space the place the anchor meets the pretensioner, as they “weren’t correctly linked throughout meeting” and had been solely caught collectively by friction match. Separation occurred when “the power exerted on the linkage overcame the resistance of the friction match whereas the autos had been in movement.”

Tesla needed to subject a unique seatbelt recall final 12 months to repair a difficulty that affected over 24,000 Model 3 vehicles. These occurred because of unrelated service heart visits, the place techs didn’t reassemble the rear seat anchor appropriately.