Tesla Recalls 7,000 Accessory Charging Adapters for Overheating

  Tesla Motors Inc. said it’s voluntarily recalling about 7,000 adapters for electric-vehicle charging after two reports of overheating that resulted in melted plastic on the adapters. The rarely used accessory item is sold through the company’s online store.
Two customers reported the overheating in November, according to an e-mail the company is sending Tuesday to customers. No damage besides the melted plastic was reported, and Tesla said it notified U.S. regulators of its voluntary recall today.


The two cases of overheating equipment involved the NEMA 14-30 adapters, which are sometimes used to charge Tesla vehicles via clothes-drier appliance outlets in U.S. homes. No international customers are affected. Replacements will be shipped beginning in the next few weeks, and customers should avoid using them in the meantime.
The company will also be replacing the NEMA 10-30 and 6-50 adapters, which have a similar design. Those replacements will take about three months, but as there haven't been any reported instances of overheating in those versions, customers who rely on them may continue to use them in the meantime, according to the company.
Recalls are common in the U.S. automotive industry. Last year saw a record number of recalls involving more than 50 million cars, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.

The recall is Tesla's fourth since it began delivering the Model S to customers in June 2012, but the first of just an accessory. A year ago, in its biggest recall, the Palo Alto, California-based company recalled all 90,000 Model S cars on the road at the time because of a single report of a front seat belt not being properly connected. In April, Tesla recalled less than 3,000 Model X SUVs because of problems with its third-row seats.
To contact the author of this story: Tom Randall in New York at trandall6@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Rovella at drovella@bloomberg.net.