Tesla voluntarily recalling Model S to check seatbelt assemblies

UPDATE (Nov 26): To add a link to Transport Canada’s official recall.

Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla is recalling its Model S sport sedan to check seatbelt assemblies, a move that comes after the front passenger belt became detached from the car’s structure. The recall covers about 90,000 cars, or every Model S produced thus far. The recall affects 3,911 cars in Canada.

According to Jalopnik, that discovery was thankfully not made in a collision, but when the person in the seat turned around to talk to someone in the back seat. The problem in that case was an improperly-tightened bolt where the pretensioner (which tightens the belt in anticipation of a crash) is attached to the car’s structure.

Tesla says concerned owners can bring their cars to one of the company’s service centres, where a technician will inspect the seatbelts. Less- (or more-) concerned owners can test the belts themselves by pulling on the belt with 80 pounds of force, but Tesla says its techs still need to inspect every car. The automaker says it hasn’t been able to replicate the problem in any other cars, but that it has informed safety regulators like the U.S. National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA) and, presumably, Canada’s Transport Canada, but no formal recall has been issued yet.