Billionaire Elon Musk's Tesla Inc. will recall nearly 200,000 vehicles in China to address problems with the trunk and front hood that raise the risk of collisions, a state regulator said Friday, hours after a similar recall from the United States.
The order is the latest blow to the American self-driving car pioneer, which is hugely popular in China although the firm's reputation has taken a hit this year following a spate of crashes, scandals and data security concerns.
China's State Administration for Market Regulation said the defects could affect the vehicles' backup cameras or cause the hoods to open suddenly while driving.
The move covers three batches of cars produced between 2015 and 2020.
Musk's electric vehicle company will inspect the cars for free and fix the issues, the regulator said in a statement.
The recall includes around 19,700 Model S cars that could have latch problems with the front hood and about 180,000 Model 3 vehicles.
In the Model 3 cars, repeated opening and closing of the trunk may damage a cable for the rearview camera.
"This will affect the driver's vision when reversing, and in extreme cases will increase the risk of collision," the regulator said.
The Chinese notice came hours after U.S. authorities said Tesla was recalling almost 500,000 vehicles in the country due to similar problems.
Tesla estimated that just 1% of the recalled Model 3 vehicles contain the problem, and the company knew of no related crash or injury, according to the U.S. safety regulator.
In June, the electric car giant recalled more than 285,000 cars in China over issues with its assisted driving software that could cause accidents.
Tesla had recall in February nearly 135,000 cars to repair a computer memory failure that could pose a safety risk. The recall covered the 2012 to 2018 Model S sedans and the 2016 to 2018 Model X SUVs equipped with a NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor, Tesla said in its notification to NHTSA.
Paris taxi company G7 had suspended the use of the 37 Model 3 cars in its fleet after one was involved in an accident that left one person dead and several others injured due to the driver losing control of the vehicle early of this month. Then Tesla told the French government there is no sign that the fatal accident was caused by a technical fault.
