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According to a safety-recall report from the National Highway Traffic Administration released last week that was made public on Tuesday, more than 40,000 of the electric car maker's vehicles have been called back because of a glitch that could cause a loss of power steering.
It's actually just an over-the-air software update that can be downloaded by owners remotely.
The issue does make sense. The NHTSA said that it applies to rare cases in which the company's Model S and Model X cars' electronic power assist steering systems mistakenly identify abrupt bumps as steering assist Torque. Drivers could still steer their cars, but they had to work harder.
Fortunately, it doesn't look like anyone was hurt or had an accident as a result of the oversight, which is estimated to only affect one percent of the cars. More than 300 vehicles have been reported to have been affected by the bug.
This issue didn't turn out worse because it's already received unwanted scrutiny from the NHTSA and other government bodies that could have potentially ruinous implications.
The NHTSA has been looking into crashes involving the autopilot system of the car. It said in June that it was widening its scope.
In August, the California Department of Motor Vehicles accused the automaker of lying to customers by calling its separate driving assistance systems Autopilot and Full Self-Driving, names that could fool a driver into thinking the systems can drive on their own.
In October, it was reported that the Department of Justice was looking into the misleading marketing of Autopilot.
At the end of the day, it's a small slip up fromTesla, but one that's amplified by all the magnifying glasses it's provoked from government bodies.
More on Musk's decision to pull engineers from autopilot to work on social media.
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