Elon Musk has labeled the NHTSA the Enjoyable Police, because the company cracks down on Tesla’s Boombox performance. Musk’s assertion on Twitter was a reply to a follower inquiring why the function had been recalled. The newest recall makes it the eleventh in simply over three months.

The Boombox function allowed Tesla customers to broadcast sounds via their automobile’s exterior audio system. Drivers may use it to play media, similar to music, or sound results to the skin world.

Nevertheless, the NHTSA’s considerations had been to do with the automobile’s Pedestrian Warning System. All EVs (and a few hybrids) are outfitted with a warning system that alerts pedestrians to the presence of a transferring automobile. The PWS makes use of an exterior speaker to play a warning sound when an EV is in movement. It acts as an alternative choice to the engine noise of an inside combustion engine automobile.

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The enjoyable police made us do it (sigh)

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 13, 2022

The problem with Tesla’s Boombox function is that it makes use of the identical speaker because the PWS. With Boombox probably enjoying a sound that would intervene or overlap with the warning system, the NHTSA began to analyze whether or not the autos complied with the security requirements in place. Tesla has since voluntarily issued an OTA recall that disables the Boombox perform whereas the automobiles are in drive, impartial, or reverse, experiences Bloomberg.

Whereas Musk’s tongue-in-cheek jab on the federal company could also be been in jest, the NHTSA has been subjecting the US automaker to elevated scrutiny of late. Experiences got here out earlier this month of the NHTSA reviewing complaints of “phantom braking,” which is suspected of getting one thing to do with Tesla’s choice to ditch radar sensors.

Different options underneath investigation embrace Autopilot, Full Self Driving Beta, and Tesla’s emergency braking system. This noticed the regulator not too long ago appoint an skilled within the discipline who has been overtly vital of Tesla’s operation. Though neither the automaker nor NHTSA say that Autopilot or FSD makes Tesla autos autonomous, critics have argued that Tesla intends it to be a Stage 4 autonomous system regardless of claiming that FSD is only a Stage 2+ system.