Electric vehicle industry's top company Tesla (TSLA) -) has a comfortable lead over the EV competition for production and deliveries. All other EV companies not named Tesla are trying emulate the success of CEO Elon Musk's Austin, Texas, company, which delivered a record amount of about 889,000 vehicles in the first half of 2023. But none are close.
Tesla has put added pressure on its rivals as it on July 15 revealed that it had built its first Cybertruck at its Gigafactory Texas. The company has already said that it will begin delivering the vehicle at the end of the third quarter, most likely the end of September.
Despite all the good news coming from Tesla, the company has dealt with some unfortunate equipment issues with its EVs.
Shutterstock
A Little Bit of Bad News After Some Good News
Tesla had recalls this year for over-the-air software updates that Musk always disputes as being recalls, since they don't require vehicles to be taken to a dealer for repairs. In May, the company recalled 1.1 million Tesla vehicles in China for a software update that allowed for changes to braking methods and more warnings about the use of accelerator pedals.
The EV maker had other equipment recalls and investigations including in March when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into 100,000 Tesla 2023 Model Y SUVs over steering wheels coming off while driving.
The NHTSA also reopened an investigation after Office of Defects Investigation on June 29 received a petition regarding unintended acceleration of Tesla EVs that alleges there is a design flaw in the inverter design that allows an intermittent higher electrical current to flow through a vehicle's 12-volt electrical system. The investigation covers about 1.8 million EVs sold in the US, including Model S, Model X, Model 3 and Model Y vehicles.
Rival South Korean EV maker Hyundai's (HYMTF) -) affiliate Kia is also being investigated by NHTSA for sort of an opposite problem with its EVs after the Office of Defects Investigations received 11 complaints from 2022 Kia EV6 owners about unexpected loss of power in their vehicles.
NHTSA engineers requested information from Kia regarding the complaints in its initial evaluation. Kia can issue a voluntary safety recall if necessary, but NHTSA will either close the case or move to the next phase after the evaluation. The agency sends safety recall request letters if a safety defect is found.
Nissan Leaf Facing Recalls
Japanese EV manufacturer Nissan (NSANY) -), however, is addressing the problems that both Tesla and Kia are dealing with as the company will recall Nissan Leaf models for a risk that the vehicles can suddenly accelerate unexpectedly after exiting cruise control and for a short circuit that can cause the electric motors to stop when driving, a company spokesman told Bloomberg, according to InsideEVs.
Complaints have popped up on the NHTSA website, including one on July 14 from a Leaf owner claiming, "Vehicle doesn't slow down when taking foot of the acceleration pedal. Same both power settings. It will continue to move at slow speed on level ground. It behaves as though the minimum pedal motor speed is too fast. My concern is that it might get very fast without any pedal. Thank you."
NHTSA, however, has not issued a Safety Recall for the vehicle as of July 18 for the acceleration and power loss issues. The 2023 Nissan Leaf already faces two recalls currently, with a brake line fluid leak caused by brake line corrosion and incorrect information in the owner's manual regarding the defroster.
