Tesla is worried owners may overload their Model Ys due to a missing label.
The safety concern has been blamed on issues with a vision-scanning tool.
Impacted Model Y owners will be alerted to the recall from July 17.
Recalls usually come dressed up in regulatory language that hides how mundane the underlying problem is. This one is refreshingly honest about it. More than 14,000 examples of the 2025 and 2026 Tesla Model Y are being recalled in the United States, and unlike most Tesla recalls, an over-the-air update will not fix it.
The recall says Tesla noticed a vehicle with a missing certification label during a routine audit of its Fremont factory last month. It was soon discovered that an automated vision-scanning tool, which verifies the presence of a properly affixed certification label, wasn’t performing as it should have.
The certification label lists the vehicle’s weight specifications, the numbers owners check before loading cargo or hitching a trailer. Without it, drivers can exceed those limits without realizing it, and an overloaded Model Y brakes, handles, and crashes differently than the one Tesla engineered.
What’s The Fix?
A total of 14,575 vehicles are caught up in the recall. The list includes 2,697 Model Ys built between November 17, 2024, and February 24, 2025, covering the 2025 model year, plus another 11,878 examples produced from February 25, 2025, through April 21, 2026. It is a large pool of cars, but Tesla says it is not aware of any collisions, injuries, or fatalities tied to the missing sticker, which is about what you would expect from a label-related defect.
Tesla says it repaired the automated scanning tool on April 17 at its Fremont, California, factory and also began performing manual checks to ensure newly produced models have the correct certification label. In addition, the scanning tool at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Texas was also fixed on May 7.
Owners of impacted Model Ys will be alerted to the recall from July 17, and Tesla will inspect affected vehicles and attach the certification label as required.
The issue stems from cracking around brake rotor stud holes under load.
Only rear-wheel-drive units with base 18-inch wheels are affected.
Some serviced EVs may also carry the same potentially faulty parts.
The owners of 173 Cybertruck RWDs have a new problem to worry about. Tesla has issued a recall on the short-lived budget variant after discovering the wheels can come off while driving, which ranks somewhere near the top of the list of things you definitely do not want your vehicle to do.
Tesla says that on-road disturbances and cornering forces can cause cracking around the stud holes in the brake rotors. If that happens, the entire wheel stud may separate from the hub. The company is not aware of any crashes or injuries tied to the issue, though it has logged three related warranty claims.
A total of 173 models built between March 21, 2024, and November 25, 2025, are included in the recall. Only Cybertruck RWD versions with the base 18-inch wheels are affected, not those fitted with the optional 20-inch setup.
Tesla first identified a potential problem in August of last year, when pre-production testing revealed some cracking in the brake rotors, even though all studs remained intact at the time. Further investigation, along with field reports, showed the issue was more serious than initially thought.
Not only did Cybertruck RWD models leave the factory with the defect, but some Tesla service centers were also using the potentially faulty brake rotors, so vehicles that have had their brakes replaced may also suffer from the same issue.
What’s The Fix?
While the recall notice lists vehicles produced from March 21, 2024, Tesla says it only began building Cybertruck RWD models with 18-inch wheels on August 28, 2025. Production ended less than three months later, on November 5, with the company citing limited demand for the variant.
Owners can expect notification from Tesla after June 20. They will be asked to bring their trucks to a service center, where technicians will replace the front and rear brake rotors, hubs, and lug nuts with updated, more durable components.
Over 20,000 EVs were just recalled due to blank instrument clusters.
Affected models include the Jeep Wagoneer S and Dodge Charger Daytona.
The issue could hide critical warnings like brake, ESC, and tire pressure alerts.
The shift to more screens in cars was supposed to be the wave of the future. We could customize them, enjoy cute little animations, and pack more info into them than anyone could dream of doing with an analog gauge cluster. Of course, an old-school mechanical cluster can’t disappear for no obvious reason during a drive. Over 20,000 Stellantis vehicles with a digital cluster might have just that happen, so the automaker is issuing a new recall.
According to documents put together by Stellantis and filed with the NHTSA, the issue potentially exists in 100 percent of the 20,271 affected vehicles built from March of 2024 through November 2025. 11,743 are Jeep Wagoneer S EVs, and the other 8,528 are Dodge Charger Daytonas.
Stellantis says it met internally about the issue on March 10, 2026 and worked with its FCA engineering team to understand what was happening through the end of that month and into April. On April 16, it decided to issue the recall but not simply because the gauge cluster was going dark. No, instead, it’s doing this because when the cluster goes dark it can no longer alert the driver to certain information.
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards require that a car can alert a driver to issues with systems like the ABS, TPMS, ESC, and more. When the panel in a Jeep Wagoneer S or Dodge Charger Daytona takes a nap, it can’t tell the driver if there are issues with these key systems. As a result, Stellantis must recall the cars and fix the issue.
Notably, the automaker stopped well short of describing exactly what causes the panel to blank out in the first place. It appears that it’s entirely software-related, as the ‘remedy’ is quoted as “software,” in the filing. Dealers will simply update the cluster software, and that should prevent them from taking a break while the driver is driving.
“Distracted driving is 100 percent preventable, yet too many people give the road far less than 100 percent of their attention,” National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Administrator Jonathan Morrison said during a press event April 1.
NHTSA officials kicked off National Distracted Driving Awareness Month and unveiled a renewed national enforcement and education effort aimed at curbing one of the most persistent dangers on U.S. roadways. Also speaking was Derek Barrs, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA); Michael Paris, chief of Fairfield, Connecticut Police; and Patty Kruszewski, who lost her daughter in a distracted driving crash.
The agency is launching its enforcement campaign, “Put the Phone Away or Pay” April 9–13, pairing high-visibility law enforcement with a broad media push targeting drivers, particularly those ages 18 to 34. Officials say the goal is to change behavior before another preventable tragedy occurs.
“We cannot be satisfied until we get that number down to zero,” Morrison said, noting that while traffic fatalities have begun to decline, tens of thousands of lives are still lost each year.
Despite recent progress, distracted driving remains a major factor in roadway crashes nationwide. Federal data cited during the press event notes that more than 33,000 people were killed in crashes involving distracted drivers in 2024, with hundreds of thousands more injured.
Officials emphasized that those numbers likely undercount the true scope of the problem, as distraction can be difficult to confirm after a crash.
“Behind every statistic … that’s a human life,” Barrs said.
Wisconsin Crash
A 13-year-old was struck and killed by a 17-year-old motorists who wasn’t paying attention and reportedly on his phone. The 13-year-old was attempting to board the school bus, when she was struck and hit by the motorists who side-swiped the bus and hit the child on the right side.
Following the crash, he NTSB recommended that NHTSA develop and publish “Driver Distraction Guidelines that address the design of current original equipment in-vehicle electronic devices, portable electronic devices and aftermarket electronic devices to prevent driver distraction.”
The agency also reiterated its recommendation to cell phone manufacturers to develop a “distracted driving lock-out mechanism that will automatically disable any driver-distracting functions when a vehicle is in motion and install the mechanism in the default setting on all new devices and apply it during major software updates.”
Five more recommendations were reiterated to NHTSA following the crash. NTSB calls for NHTSA to develop and apply testing protocols to assess the performance of forward collision avoidance systems in passenger vehicles at various velocities, including high speed and high velocity-differential. It also calls on the agency to expand the New Car Assessment Program 5-star rating system to include a scale that rates the performance of forward collision avoidance and to develop performance test criteria for vehicle designs that reduce injuries to pedestrians.
NTSB also wants NHTSA to develop performance test criteria for manufacturers to use in evaluating the extent to which automated pedestrian safety systems in light vehicles will prevent or mitigate pedestrian injury and incorporate pedestrian safety systems, including pedestrian collision avoidance systems and other more passive safety systems, into the New Car Assessment Program. Additionally, Ford Motor Company is urged to install forward collision avoidance systems that include, at minimum, a forward collision warning component as standard equipment on all new vehicles.
Distracted driving is especially dangerous around school buses, where children may unpredictably enter the roadway. Even a momentary glance at a phone can mean the difference between stopping in time, or not.
“Just even one injury or death on our roadways due to distraction … is way too many,” Barrs said.
A recent National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation found that a 17-year-old driver was using his cellphone when he struck and killed a 13-year-old student who was preparing to board a school bus in Wisconsin. In its final report on the crash, the NTSB called for stronger enforcement, education and technology solutions to protect students during loading and unloading.
Meanwhile, on Monday, Paris stressed that visible enforcement is critical, but not enough on its own. “We need every driver to make a simple but critical choice — put the phone down, slow down, pay attention,” he said.
During the campaign week, officers across the country will increase patrols and actively ticket drivers caught using handheld devices. The effort is supported by a national media campaign, both English and Spanish.
At its core, the campaign returns to a straightforward message: no notification is worth a life. Officials and safety advocates alike are urging drivers to make that decision before they start the engine: Silence the phone, set it aside and stay focused.
Because, as Morrison noted, it only takes seconds for distraction to change lives forever.
Kruszewski told the story of her daughter, Lanie, who at 24 years old was struck and killed while biking home from work in 2012. The driver later admitted he never saw her because he was looking at his phone. Kruszewski said the tragedy underscored how quickly a seemingly small decision, checking a message, can destroy lives.
It “took just one text” to take her daughter’s life and forever change her family, she said.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Administrator Jonathan Morrison stood in front of a row of car keys during a press event April 1, 2026. Each key represented a person injured in a distracted driving crash. The display included about 4,000 keys — symbolizing just a fraction of the victims hurt in 2024.
Behind officials during the announcement stood an installation of hundreds of hanging car keys, each representing a person injured in a distracted driving crash. The display included about 4,000 keys — symbolizing just a fraction of the victims hurt in 2024.
But officials noted that if the exhibit reflected the full scale of the crisis — more than 315,000 people injured in distracted driving crashes that year — it would stretch across half a football field.
“In just the time we’ve been talking today, another 18 people have now been injured in distracted driving crashes,” Morrison said near the close of the event.
Industry consultant Derek Graham will take the stage at STN EXPO East to shed light on the trends of illegal passing trends involving school buses, the work of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to combat the crimes, and provide recommendations to protect the students on and off the yellow school bus.
The “Trends in Illegal Passing Awareness & Enforcement” session will be held March 29, on day four of the conference in Charlotte-Concord, North Carolina. Graham has a career history of passion for school bus safety as an industry consultant and former state director of pupil transportation with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction as well as past president of the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services (NASDPTS).
Graham’s home state of North Carolina was the first state to initiate an annual count of illegal passing trends, dating back to 1998. He co-coordinated the annual NASDPTS national school bus illegal passing count with Charlie Hood, at the time state director for Florida and later the association’s executive director, and worked with NHTSA to implement one of the first enforcement campaign using stop arm cameras.
During the STN EXPO East session, Graham will look at recent NASDPTS survey findings that found a drop in the number of illegal passing incidents last past school year. As he analyzes this and other federal data, he will explain the recent efforts of federally directed NHTSA studies that look at various components of the student transportation ecosystem to help reduce instances of illegal passing. This will include a breakdown of the NHTSA toolkit for planning safety school bus stops and routes and their evaluation of the technology offerings that target illegal passing as well their effectiveness. Graham will use his detailed knowledge of the nuance of federal laws and initiatives to summarize and explain how this research influenced NHTSA’s recommended actions to improve school bus safety.
Attendees will gain practical insights into how the results of these initiatives at the federal level can help further safety at their operations.
Early Bird savings ends Feb. 13. Register for the conference by the deadline to save $100 on main conference registration. The six-day conference will feature dozens of educational sessions, the Bus Technology Summit and Green Bus Summit, the hands-on National School Bus Inspection Training program and unique networking events including the Ride and Drive/Product Demo, Trade Show and Saf-T-Liner Thomas Built Buses Factory Tour. Some of these unique experiences have limited space, register now at stnexpo.com/east.
Another investigation is underway after a Waymo driverless vehicle hit a young pedestrian, this time in Santa Monica, California.
Last month, School Transportation News reported that Waymo’s driverless vehicles are still illegally passing Austin Independent School District school buses in Texas despite multiple attempts to correct the situation. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a preliminary evaluation Oct. 17, after a Waymo vehicle failed to stop and passed a school bus in Atlanta, Georgia a month earlier.
NHTSA opened another investigation Jan. 28 following the Santa Monica incident, which is about 15 miles west of downtown Los Angeles. The preliminary evaluation states that on Jan. 23 Waymo “reported to the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) that a Waymo Automated Vehicle (AV) had struck a child near an elementary school earlier that day.”
The incident occurred within two blocks of the Santa Monica elementary school and during normal school drop off hours. Other children, a crossing guard and several double-parked vehicles were in the vicinity.
The child reportedly ran across the street from behind a double-parked SUV towards the school and was struck by the Waymo AV. Waymo reported that the child sustained minor injuries. The Waymo driverless vehicle was operated by the 5th Generation Automated Driving System.
“At Waymo, we are committed to improving road safety, both for our riders and all those with whom we share the road. Part of that commitment is being transparent when incidents occur,” the blog post states.
The company details the incident, noting that it contacted NHTSA and will cooperate with the investigation.
“The event occurred when the pedestrian suddenly entered the roadway from behind a tall SUV, moving directly into our vehicle’s path,” the post notes. “Our technology immediately detected the individual as soon as they began to emerge from behind the stopped vehicle. The Waymo Driver braked hard, reducing speed from approximately 17 mph to under 6 mph before contact was made.”
The Waymo post notes that “a fully attentive human driver in this same situation would have made contact with the pedestrian at approximately 14 mph. This significant reduction in impact speed and severity is a demonstration of the material safety benefit of the Waymo Driver.”
Following contact, the student pedestrian reportedly stood up and walked to the sidewalk, and Waymo called 911. The driveless vehicle moved to the side of the road and stayed there until law enforcement cleared the vehicle.
“This event demonstrates the critical value of our safety systems,” Waymo added. “We remain committed to improving road safety where we operate as we continue on our mission to be the world’s most trusted driver.”
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