The first of the modern electric sports cars to market has had a rough time of ironing out its mechanical issues, though the current Tesla Roadster 2.5 solves many problems in previous iterations. It's still not 100 percent, however, as Tesla today announced a voluntary recall of 439 of its vehicles for a risk of electrical fire.
Tesla says the problematic wiring lies just in front of the passenger front wheel well, behind the heaflight, where a 12-volt auxiliary cable can chafe, exposing the wiring causing a short-circuit, which can then lead to smoke and a risk of fire.
So far only one car has been subject to the problem, but Tesla is stepping up to fix any and all cars that might be affected before the problem arises. Given the small community of Tesla Roadster owners, the move isn't particularly surprising--and it's one no doubt intended to instill confidence in the still-nascent carmaker's ability to support its vehicles.
Tesla will repair the problem for free, and plans to fix the cars at customers' homes or offices. The fix takes about one hour.
The problem affects only Roadster 2.0 and 2.5 models. Earlier 1.5 models, with final VIN digits lower than 500, do not have the problematic cable.
[Tesla]
