The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced March 28 it is opening a probe into approximately 50,000 2022-2023 Tesla Model X vehicles, after the safety agency received two complaints about front seat belt failures on the all-electric SUV.
Per the complaints posted on the NHTSA’s website, the Model X’s belts reportedly failed to stay connected to the seat belt anchor pretensioner while the vehicle was in motion. No collisions or accidents related to the issue have been reported so far, the NHTSA said.
Tesla has not provided a comment on the matter as of writing.
One of the complaints was from a Tesla Model X passenger from Larkspur, CA. At the time of the incident, the Tesla was reportedly moving at about 10-15 mph when the vehicle’s automatic braking system was activated. The passenger was thrown forward, and the seat belt reportedly detached.
“I was a passenger in the vehicle. The car was moving forward at 10-15 mph and the auto braking system was activated appropriately when a large truck parked on the side of the street driver’s door opened unexpectedly and was in the path of our vehicle. With the sudden deceleration, my upper body flung forward, and the force of my weight caused the seat belt anchor on the lower seat to detach completely,” the complaint read.
Following the preliminary evaluation, the NHTSA will determine if the issue will be escalated to an engineering analysis before a recall can be implemented.
While the vast majority of Tesla recalls are addressed through over-the-air software updates, issues related to the vehicle’s hardware might require a visit to a service center.
