An external speaker function in 578,607 Teslas will be disabled by the electric vehicle manufacturer this month after the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it interfered with safety standards.
In late 2020, Tesla firmware enabled the “Boombox” feature, which “allows a customer to play preset or custom sounds through the PWS [pedestrian warning system] external speaker when the vehicle is parked or in motion.”
Think of the driver playing whatever they want, drowning out the baseline sort-of-car noise, and you can start to see why regulators were concerned. If you’re a loser who doesn’t have a Tesla, this informative video gives an idea of how the PWS should sound.
In January 2021, the NHTSA duly began investigating how Boombox might interfere with a safety-critical system designed to alert pedestrians to an oncoming Tesla since they are far quieter than conventional vehicles.
The result of the investigation is a recall [PDF] of certain 2020-22 Model S, Model X, and Model Y vehicles and 2017-22 Model 3 vehicles “built or retrofitted with pedestrian warning system” and capable of operating firmware release 2020.48.25 and later.
As you might imagine, that’s a lot of cars. To address the issue, Tesla will stop Boombox working when the car is moving via an over-the-air (OTA) update through February.
The NHTSA document reads:
Just this month Tesla had to disable a feature in its Full Self-Driving software that allowed some 50,000 vehicles to roll past stop signs at junctions without coming to a full stop.
The company disbanded its media relations unit in 2020. ®
‘Boombox’ function sparks Tesla recall
Source: Expert Gwapo Pinoys
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