EV manufacturer Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) suffered a major setback on Friday after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) upgraded its investigation into its power steering loss to an engineering analysis. This could result in the safety regulator potentially demanding a recall.
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The NHTSA’s probe will cover around 334,000 Model 3 and Model Y vehicles for power steering loss. The regulator has identified 2,388 complaints, including difficulty or inability to turn the steering wheel. NHTSA has associated one crash with the investigation.
The regulator’s probe comes on the same day the EV major stated that it was recalling nearly all its vehicles in the U.S. – around 2.2 million. Tesla is doing this recall to correct font sizes on warning lights that have been shown to increase the risk of a crash.
According to NHTSA, the company has already released an over-the-air software update from January 23, free of charge, to fix the issue. This software update is expected to increase the font size of the visual warning indicators for the brake, park, and antilock brake system (ABS).
Around two months back, the company recalled around 2.03 million vehicles in the U.S. to fix an Autopilot issue.
What Is the Stock Price Prediction for Tesla?
Analysts remain sidelined about TSLA stock with a Hold consensus rating based on 12 Buys, 16 Holds, and six Sells. Over the past month, TSLA has declined by more than 20%, and the average TSLA price target of $220.98 implies an upside potential of 19.8% at current levels.