Tesla recalls 817,000 U.S. vehicles over seat belt alert

WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc is recalling more than 817,000 vehicles in the United States because an audible alert may not activate when a vehicle starts and the driver has not buckled their seat belt, a U.S. auto safety regulator said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2022/RCLRPT-22V045-3599.PDF Thursday the vehicles — some 2021-2022 Model S and Model X, 2017-2022 Model 3, and 2020-2022 Model Y vehicles — fail to comply with a federal motor vehicle safety standard on "Occupant Crash Protection" because the audible chime does not activate. Tesla will perform an over-the-air (OTA) software update to address the issue.

Tesla told NHTSA that as of Jan. 31 it was unaware of any crashes or injuries related to the issue. (Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Jason Neely)