Elon Musk attends the opening ceremony of the new Tesla Gigafactory for electric cars in Gruenheide, Germany, March 22, 2022. /Reuters
German road traffic agency, the KBA, said it was recalling Tesla models Y and 3 due to a fault in the automatic emergency call system which affects 59,000 vehicles globally.
The KBA said on its website dated June 29 that a software flaw was causing a breakdown of the eCall, which is designed to automatically contact emergency responders in the event of a serious accident.
German regional broadcaster Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, which serves the region that is home to Tesla's German model Y and battery production site near Berlin, first reported the recall on July 2.
The KBA said 59,129 vehicles were affected globally but did not specify how many of those were registered in Germany.
Model Y cars on display at the opening ceremony of the new Tesla Gigafactory for electric cars in Gruenheide, Germany, March 22, 2022. /Reuters
The software glitch is an added headache for Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla, after he said on July 2 that the company delivered 17.9 percent fewer electric vehicles in the second quarter from the previous quarter.
Musk also said last month that Tesla's new factories in Texas and Berlin are "losing billions of dollars" as they struggle to increase production because of a shortage of batteries and Chinese port issues.
Moreover, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration early in June upgraded its probe into 830,000 Tesla vehicles with the advanced driver assistance system Autopilot, a required step before it could seek a recall.
(With input from Reuters)