Tesla RECALL Model S and Model X for faulty Touchscreens that ‘Weren’t built to last’

Tesla is recalling a large number of Model S and Model X built between 2012 and 2018 to repair faulty touchscreens. 

There’s a lot to praise about Tesla’s cars, not least their performance and powertrain expertise, but one thing they’re not noted for is build quality.

But it seems it’s not just bad panel gaps and bits falling off that have beset owners, but failing touchscreens too. And now those failures have seen US authorities insist that Tesla recalls the affected models to fix them, and that recall applies to UK models too.

It seems the eMMC flash memory device is only good for a limited number of cycles before struggling to store data properly, leading to the failure of the screen and a number of issues including rear view camera, indicators and defrost.

Tesla has already tried to fix the issues with OTA updates, but this hasn’t worked so they now have to get the affected cars in to replace the old 8GB eMMC with a 64GB version.

Interestingly, Tesla defended the issue by telling US authorities that the faulty eMMC wasn’t meant to last the life of the car, but was good for only 5-6 years of average use.

Which does make you wonder how much cars with complex systems are going to be worth when the gadgets and gizmos give up the ghost after a few years.