Tesla is recalling more than 817,000 vehicles in the United States because an audible alert may not activate when a vehicle starts and the driver has not buckled the seat belt, a U.S. auto safety regulator said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Thursday said the vehicles, including 2021-2022 Model S and Model X, 2017-2022 Model 3, and 2020-2022 Model Y, fail to comply with a federal motor vehicle safety standard on "Occupant Crash Protection" because the chime does not activate. 

Tesla will perform an over-the-air (OTA) software update to address the issue. 

The company said that a software error on the recalled vehicles may prevent the chime from activating upon vehicle start under certain circumstances.

It added the issue does not affect the audible seat belt reminder chime from activating when the vehicle exceeds 22 km/h and the driver seat belt is not detected as buckled.

The condition does not impact the accuracy of the accompanying visual seat belt reminder, it said.

Tesla told NHTSA that it was unaware of any crashes or injuries related to the issue as of January 31. 

The company has come under increasing scrutiny from U.S. regulators and issued a number of recalls in recent months.

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