Tesla is recalling more than two million vehicles across its model lineup -- nearly all of its vehicles sold in the U.S. -- after regulators determined the Autopilot system doesn't do enough to prevent "driver misuse."
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the vehicles have a defective system that's supposed to ensure drivers are paying attention when they use Autopilot.
"In certain circumstances when Autosteer is engaged, the prominence and scope of the feature's controls may not be sufficient to prevent driver misuse of the... driver-assistance feature," the agency said in a recall notice.
Autosteer is a hands-on driver assistance system that can provide steering, braking and acceleration support to the driver in limited operating conditions, such as highways.
The NHTSA said drivers can misuse Autosteer if they "fail to maintain continuous and sustained responsibility for vehicle operation and are unprepared to intervene, fail to recognize when the feature is canceled or not engaged, and/or fail to recognize when the feature is operating in situations where its functionality may be limited," all of which can increase the risk of a crash.
The recall covers nearly all of the vehicles Tesla sold in the U.S. and includes models Y, S, 3 and X produced between October 2012 and December 7 of this year.
Rather than recall the vehicles to a dealership, the company will send out a software update to fix the problem. The software remedy is expected to begin deploying to certain affected vehicles on or shortly after December 12. Owners will be notified by mail.
"The remedy will incorporate additional controls and alerts to those already existing on affected vehicles to further encourage the driver to adhere to their continuous driving responsibility whenever Autosteer is engaged, which includes keeping their hands on the steering wheel and paying attention to the roadway," the NHTSA said.
The recall comes after a two-year investigation by the NHTSA into a series of crashes that happened while the Autopilot driving system was in use.