Tesla Issues Another Recall Of 579,000 Vehicles Over 'Boombox' Function

Tesla announced a recall of 579,000 vehicles because of their "Boombox" functionality. Tesla cars come equipped with an external speaker, meant to play sounds so pedestrians can hear the quiet cars.

The "Boombox" function allows drivers to play other sounds and music over those speakers and could prevent pedestrians from hearing the audible warning noises. It was enabled in December 2020 and works when the car is in motion, which is a violation of federal safety standards for electric vehicles.

"The Boombox functionality allows a customer to play preset or custom sounds through the PWS (pedestrian warning system) external speaker when the vehicle is parked or in motion," the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said." While Boombox and the pedestrian alert sound are mutually exclusive sounds, sounds emitted using Boombox could be construed to obscure or prevent the PWS from complying.

The recalled vehicles include the 2020-2022 Model S, Model X, Model Y, and 2017-2022 Model 3. Tesla said the feature will be disabled by a software update.

Since January 2021, Tesla has initiated15 recalls, including four in the past two weeks. Last week, the electric automaker recalled 54,000 vehicles because the "full self-driving" software was programmed to roll through stop signs instead of coming to a complete stop first.