Tesla issued a recall of 594,717 vehicles Thursday for an issue that may be familiar to our readers: The Boombox sound-effect feature, which allows owners to customize their horns, is still not up to snuff, according to federal regulators. That sound effect serves as a warning to pedestrians to alert them that a vehicle is approaching.
Back in February, Tesla recalled 578,607 vehicles across all four of its models due to its Boombox sound-effect feature, which allows owners to set up to five customizable sounds for their horns, was deemed too loud as it might obscure the federally mandated Pedestrian Warning System sounds.
PWS sounds are noises electric vehicles are required to produce when traveling at low speeds, so they can’t sneak up on pedestrians and cyclists. Tesla issued an over-the-air fix which disabled the feature when the car is in drive, neutral or reverse. This new fix will also disable Boombox when the car has Summon or Smart Summon modes engaged.
It’s a little strange that something that makes the car more loud is the reason it’s being recalled, but you do you federal regulators. I’m sure there’s no reason this will come back to bite anyone.
The fix wasn’t good enough for NHTSA. The new recalled includes the same 2020-2022 Model S, Model X and Model Y vehicles and select 2017-2022 Model 3 EVs because the Boombox feature can still be used with the Summon or Smart Summon features. Smart Summon allowed Tesla owners to call their car out of its parking spot and to them autonomously. The models will likely simply require another over the air update to fix the issue and won’t come at any cost or inconvenience to current Tesla owners.
No crashes or injuries have been reported in connection with the recall.