If you’ve ever been driving at night and felt like the car behind you had too-bright headlights, that car might have been a Tesla, and it might have felt that way because its lights broke the rules.
Tesla has issued a recall on over 20,349 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles which have low-beam headlights that exceed the maximum brightness. Unlike many Tesla recalls, this one seems like it will require a physical fix, rather than a software update.
The recall covers 18,735 Model Y vehicles from 2020-2023 and 1,614 Model 3s from 2017-2023. Affected vehicles have headlamp assembly 1077371-98-L and 1077372-00-L, supplied by Marelli Automotive Lighting.
The spec lists a maximum of 125 candela, and Tesla’s headlights could be as bright as 230.1 candela in testing.
The parts were included primarily on cars manufactured before June 2, 2023, though an additional 432 vehicles slipped through using the affected headlights between then and May 3, 2024.
The recall issue for these parts has actually been ongoing for a couple years now. In 2023, a Canadian lab found the headlights to be out of spec during routine testing, at which point Tesla checked and found the same.
Tesla then proposed to recall a small set of vehicles, but petitioned the NHTSA to avoid a full recall of all noncompliant vehicles, claiming that the headlights hadn’t been responsible for any accidents or injuries (though there have been 3 warranty claims and 1 field report related to the issue).
That petition was denied in July, so this recall was inevitable.
Tesla has been subject to many recalls over its days, but oftentimes it’s a bit of a non-story, because the NHTSA lumps all recalls into the same system, including ones that can be fixed by software updates.
Some of the biggest recalls by Tesla (a million vehicles here, 120,000 vehicles there…) end up being solved by a software update, oftentimes one that has already been applied weeks before the recall notice gets sent out. It makes for a good headline, but it’s not really a story.
This time, though, there’s no notice in the recall paperwork stating that this has been solved by a software update.
Given that Tesla fought against the recall, this suggests that the company will have to buy 20,349 sets of headlights and pay for the labor to install them. That’s a lot more costly than a software fix… so we’re sure Tesla tried to figure out a way to adjust the headlights’ brightness in software and found it not possible.
Tesla sales locations were notified of the recall last week, and owners will be sent notifications in the mail by September 15th. Owners will learn more about what to do when they get those notifications.
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