Tesla Recalls 239,000 Vehicles Over Rearview Camera Issues

Tesla has issued yet another recall, this time impacting roughly 239,000 vehicles, due to computer hardware issues that may cause the vehicles’ rearview cameras to stop working.

According to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) filing, when one of the impacted vehicles powers up, a reverse current may cause a shorting failure on the car’s computer board. This results in the loss of rearview camera functionality, which “may affect the driver’s rear visibility and increase the risk of a collision.”

The automaker attributed the issues to a specific sequence of software and hardware configurations, combined with colder temperatures. The issue impacts 2024-25 Model 3 and Model S vehicles, as well as 2023-25 Model X and Model Y vehicles. Tesla began rolling out an over-the-air (OTA) software update on Dec. 18, 2024, to fix the defect, and all owners impacted are set to receive notification letters on or shortly after Jan. 8, 2025.

However, the OTA update won’t be enough to remedy the issue for owners of vehicles that have already experienced a shorting failure in their Tesla’s computer board. Tesla has said it will replace the vehicle’s car computer at no cost to the customer in such cases.

Tesla reported 887 warranty claims and 68 field reports related to the problem but said it is not aware of any collisions, injuries, or fatalities as a result of the defect.

This is not the first time Tesla has issued recalls due to rearview camera issues. In October 2024, Tesla recalled 27,000 Cybertrucks due to an issue where the rearview camera sometimes didn’t appear for the driver within two seconds of putting the vehicle into reverse. In January 2024, Tesla issued a recall notice for nearly 200,000 2023 Model S, X, and Y vehicles due to a software issue that prevented the rearview camera from working properly.

The news comes after NHTSA opened a preliminary evaluation into Tesla’s Actually Smart Summon feature, which allows users to move their cars remotely, earlier this week. The agency said the new feature may have played a part in four crashes involving Tesla vehicles, where cars failed to detect posts or parked vehicles and the operator did “not have enough time to react due to vehicle proximity or line of sight.”

About Will McCurdy

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I’m a reporter covering weekend news. Before joining PCMag in 2024, I picked up bylines in BBC News, The Guardian, The Times of London, The Daily Beast, Vice, Slate, Fast Company, The Evening Standard, The i, TechRadar, and Decrypt Media.

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