New York - Tesla Motors said it’s voluntarily recalling about
7 000 adapters for electric-vehicle charging after two reports of overheating
that resulted in melted plastic on the plugs. The rarely used item is sold
through the company’s online store.
Two customers reported overheating in November, according to
an e-mail the company sent to customers Tuesday. No damage besides the melted
plastic was reported, and Tesla said it has notified US regulators of its
voluntary recall. The accessories were manufactured by an outside supplier and
haven’t been sold for at least six months, according to Tesla.
The two cases of overheating equipment involved the NEMA
14-30 adapters, which are sometimes used to charge Tesla vehicles via
clothes-dryer appliance outlets in US homes. International customers aren’t
affected. Replacements will be shipped beginning in the next few weeks, and
customers should avoid using them in the meantime.
The company will also be replacing the NEMA 10-30 and 6-50
adapters, which have a similar design. Those replacements will take about three
months, but as there haven’t been any reported instances of overheating in
those versions, customers who rely on them may continue to use them, according
to the company.
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Recalls are common in the US automotive industry. Last
year saw a record number of them involving more than 50 million cars, according
to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.The recall is
Tesla’s fifth since it began delivering the Model S to customers in June 2012, but
the first of just an accessory. A year ago, in its biggest recall, the Palo
Alto, California-based company recalled all 90 000 Model S cars on the road at the
time because of a single report of a front seatbelt not being properly
connected. In April, Tesla recalled less than 3 000 Model X SUVs because of
problems with its third-row seats.