Photo: AP

Tesla announced this morning that it’s issuing a voluntary recall for Model S and Model X SUVs built between February and October 2016 over a potential manufacturing issue. Specifically, it’s related to a gear in electric parking brakes that could’ve been manufactured improperly, and, if that gear breaks, it might prevent the brake from releasing.


The automaker said it doesn’t believe the issue could lead to a safety concern customers, and there hasn’t been any report of an accident or injury related to it. But it’s asking affected customers to bring in their vehicles to have their brakes replaced.

The issue was discovered after Tesla learned that some owners had received alerts to have their parking brakes serviced. An internal investigation was launched, and Tesla discovered the gear in the parking brake—made by third-party supplier Brembo—could get stuck and break. “If this gear were to break, the parking brake would continue to keep the car from moving,” Tesla told impacted owners in an email today, “but the parking brake would then be stuck in place.”


All told, about 53,000 Model S and Model X vehicles are being recalled. Tesla said it believes around 2 percent of those vehicles are affected by the potentially faulty gear. The automaker said there have been no reports of the parking brake system failing “to hold a parked vehicle or failing to stop a vehicle in an emergency as a result of this condition.”

“However, in order to be overly cautious, we are going to be proactively replacing these parts to ensure that no issues arise,” Tesla said in the email to owners.

The company said it plans to continue to work with Brembo. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has already been notified of the voluntary recall, according to Tesla.

Tesla said its goal is to have all replacement parts by October 2017.

Update: The post has been changed to clarify that the number of vehicles Tesla believes could be affected by the parking gear is around 2 percent.