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Why is Tesla recalling 54,000 vehicles?

Answer: To disable their “rolling stop” feature.

A black Tesla vehicle from the back with it's taillight illuminated.
Just when you think maybe we will get a few days without Tesla and/or its CEO Elon Musk making headlines, you’d be wrong. The electric carmaker was back atop the news this week after it had to recall approximately 54,000 vehicles.

The issue at hand is the “rolling stop” feature within Tesla’s Full Self-Driving package. That package comes with three different driving modes that the user can choose from when they activate it — chill, average and assertive. When in the assertive mode, the vehicle will perform rolling stops (which is when the car doesn’t come to a full and complete stop at a stop sign) that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has found could be dangerous.

According to the NHTSA, Teslas with rolling stop activated can “travel through all-way-stop intersections at up to 5.6 mph before coming to a complete stop” depending on the surroundings and circumstances. NHTSA stated in a safety recall notice that the consequence was that “failing to stop at a stop sign can increase the risk of a crash.”

Tesla will issue an over-the-air software update to disable the feature and will mail notification letters to all affected owners.