The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it is investigating touch screen failures in some Tesla Model S vehicles which can cause the rear camera not to display, reducing visibility.
Eleven complaints were sent to the agency on vehicles that were manufactured from 2012 to 2015.
According to the The Associated Press, the investigation will look into 63,000 Model S vehicles with screens controlled by flash memory devices with finite life spans based on the number of program and erase cycles, the documents said.
The screens can fail prematurely because the memory can wear out. It uses an Nvidia Corp Tegra 3 processor with an integrated 8GB eMMC NAND flash memory device, according to the NHTSA.
The same screens and processors were used in 159,000 2012 through 2018 Model S and 2016 to 2018 Model X vehicles built through early 2018, the agency said.
Failures also cause loss of touch screen features such as infotainment, navigation and web browsing. If the screens fail, heating and air conditioning controls also will default to an auto mode, and limits on battery charging current can be affected, according to the documents.
Failure doesn’t affect braking, steering, speed control or other control systems, NHTSA said.
The findings of the investigation will determine if Tesla will be forced to recall the affected vehicles.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Cox Media Group
