Whether or not the parking brake gets utilized, it still needs to function as intended. Unfortunately for Tesla and owners of Model S and X vehicles built from February 2016 through October 2016, a manufacturing issue means that the parking brake may not function properly. You may get stuck in park.
The recall affects up to 53,000 vehicles, with approximately 31,000 being in the U.S. Tesla issued this statement on the matter.
"Tesla recently discovered a potential manufacturing issue with electric parking brakes installed on certain Model S and Model X vehicles that could prevent the parking brake from releasing. We don't believe this issue could ever lead to a safety concern for our customers, and we have not seen a single accident or injury relating to it. However, in order to be overly cautious, we are going to be proactively replacing these parts to ensure that no issues arise."
Affected vehicles will be fixed free of charge, though the timeline to finish all fixes is rather long with Tesla saying it could be October 2017 before it has the necessary parts to correct the issue on all of the affected Model s & X electric vehicles. Tesla estimates that only 2 percent of the vehicles recalled contain the improperly manufactured part. Owners will be contacted by e-mail and ol' fashion snail mail.
