Tesla Recalls 20,000 Cars Over Uber-Bright Headlights

Tired of getting blinded by Tesla headlights? This may help.

Photo by: Tesla

Rob Stumpf

By: Rob Stumpf

Aug 11, at 2:39pm ET

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Tesla has issued a recall for 20,349 Model 3 and Model Y EVs built or serviced between 2017 and 2023.
The recall stems from a finding in 2024 that some cars' headlights could be more than double the permitted brightness in certain measured zones.
NHTSA previously denied a petition to avoid a recall for something Tesla deemed to be an "inconsequential" defect.

The feds blasted Tesla for its ultra-bright headlights last month. The public lashing came after Tesla said that the brightness was an "inconsequential" safety concern, something that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration clearly didn't agree with.

Today a new filing from Tesla officially recalled the 20,349 affected vehicles. Specifically, the automaker says that it could affect certain up to 1,614 Tesla Model 3s from 2017-2023 and 18,735 Tesla Model Ys from 2020-2023.

Photo by: Tesla

You might be thinking that 20,349 vehicles seems like a very small number over a five year period. After all, Tesla sold millions of cars during that time. The culprit—why the number of vehicles is so small but range is so large—is the manufacturing date of the headlight. If a vehicle was built after June 2nd that year or had a headlight component replaced during service, it could be affected.

This recall dates back to 2024. At the time, Tesla gave NHTSA a heads-up that approximately 20,000 Model 3 and Model Ys were believed to have headlights that exceeded the maximum allowable brightness.

It's important to understand that this doesn't mean that the overall brightness was too high, but the brightness in certain viewing zones of the headlight (the very outer, upper-edges of both headlights) were too bright. This means that other road users could have reduced visibility if they fell within the light projected from these headlights zones. In some cases, Tesla says the brightness was more than double the permitted amount but that the defect was "inconsequential."

Ultimately, NHTSA denied Tesla's petition to avoid a recall.

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This is the second blow to Tesla from the feds in recent weeks. NHTSA also announced that it was launching an investigation into suspension failures after it received 156 complaints that the lateral links on certain Tesla Model 3 and Model Ys could fail. Tesla previously issued a recall related to this same part in 2023.

It's not clear if Tesla's headlight fix will be as complicated as replacing hardware, or just something easier like an over-the-air update that takes advantage of Tesla's adaptive beams. Tesla says that it has not yet determined a fix for the vehicles and that the remedy is "currently under development."