Tesla issues another recall, this time due to windshield defrosting issues

Tesla has issued a recall for 26,681 vehicles due to heat pump issues which could decrease windshield defrosting performance. This is the company's fifth vehicle recall since November 2021.

A notice posted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Feb 8 says that the issue affects the following vehicles: Tesla Model 3 (model year 2021-2022), Tesla Model S (2021-2022), Tesla Model X (2021-2022), and Tesla Model Y (2020-2022).

"A software error may cause a valve in the heat pump to open unintentionally and trap the refrigerant inside the evaporator, resulting in decreased defrosting performance," the notice says. This, in turn, could cause windshield defrosting issues, which could "reduce the driver's visibility, increasing the risk of a crash."

The issue will be solved via a free over-the-air software update.

While this has been one of the smaller recalls for Tesla in terms of total vehicles affected, the sheer number of issues popping up is worrying. Just last week, Tesla fixed a seat belt chime issue that affected 817,000 vehicles. A few days before that, Tesla had to disable a "rolling stop" feature in 53,822 vehicles as the NHTSA determined it could be dangerous. In December, the company recalled 475,000 vehicles due to frunk and rearview camera problems, and in November, it came to light that thousands of Tesla cars could have airbag issues.