A researcher asks US to recall every single Tesla made after 2013. Here's why

Are Tesla EV owners looking at a massive recall, under which the automaker will have to recall every single model it built after 2013? If a defect petition to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) by a Greek accident researcher has to be considered, then it could be true. In fact, following the submission of the defect petition, the Tesla cars are facing increased scrutiny from the federal regulator, reveals the agency.

The Greek researcher filed the petition over some Tesla cars' ability to shift forward to reverse without applying the brake pedal. The NHTSA is reportedly looking into the defect petition that seeks to compel the EV manufacturer to modify every car it has told since 2013. This would see an interlock system that requires the brake pedal to be pressed by the driver to shift from Drive to Reverse applied to the vehicles.

Costas Lakafossis, a mechanical and aeronautical engineer and accident investigator from Greece, has submitted a lengthy technical document to NHTSA, which accused Tesla of introducing special features that encourage sudden unintended acceleration in its vehicles, which resulted in accidents and injuries. “One such ‘special feature’ is the ability of the car to stop and shift into reverse gear when the driver is ready to park, without the requirement of an actual brake pedal activation," writes Lakafossis. He also claimed that this potentially dangerous party trick has no practical benefit.

In his petition, Lakafossis pointed out that it has been known since the 1980s that the Brake Transmission Shift Interlock (BTSI) system reduces sudden unintended acceleration in vehicles equipped with automatic transmissions. This feature has also been required on new cars since 2010. However, it seems Tesla has flouted that requirement in its vehicles. The researcher also claimed that removing both feet from the pedals significantly increases the risk of pedal misapplication errors. He also pointed to several accidents in documents submitted to NHTSA, which may be linked to this error.