Tesla is recalling up to 817,000 cars over seat belt alerts that might not work

• Tesla is recalling up to 817,143 cars over problems with their seat belt alerts.
• The recall affects all Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, as well as some Model S and Model X vehicles.

Tesla is recalling up to 817,143 cars over problems with their seat belt alerts.

Cars are required to chime with a seat belt reminder when the vehicle starts and the driver is unbuckled, but some Tesla models have a fault that stops them from chiming under certain circumstances, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says in a recall notice submitted February 1.

The recall affects all of the electric-vehicle maker's Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, as well as some Model S and Model X vehicles made in 2021 and 2022.

The notice says that sometimes the alert doesn't chime in a situation where a driver is unbuckled – and the alert is sounding – but then leaves the vehicle, and remains unbuckled when they return.

The notice came just days after Tesla recalled almost 54,000 vehicles because the company's Full Self-Driving lets cars roll past stop signs. The company also recalled nearly 8,000 vehicles in June 2021 because of potentially faulty seat belts.

"If the audible seat belt reminder chime does not activate at the start of a new drive cycle and the driver does not notice the accompanying visual seat belt telltale, the driver may not be reminded to buckle their seat belt and may begin operating the vehicle in an unbuckled state, which could increase the risk of injury," the new recall notice says.

In these circumstances, the seat belt reminder chime does still activate when the vehicle exceeds 22 kilometers (13.7 miles) per hour, and the visual seat belt reminder does still work, the recall notice says.

The recall notice said that Tesla determined that this was a noncompliance with the regulations but that it was not aware of any injuries or fatalities related to the fault.

Tesla will release an over-the-air software update correcting the fault in early February, the notice said. This update was already introduced to Tesla vehicle production from late January, per the notice.