Tesla announces recall of 130,000 electric vehicles: Caused by overheating of AMD Ryzen
Tesla has gradually replaced the Intel Atom A3950 processor (quad-core/1.6GHz) used in the past with MCU3 (an infotainment system equipped with AMD Ryzen chips) in Model 3 and Model Y, the same as the 2021 Model S and Model X. It was previously reported that the battery life of Tesla’s Model 3 dropped by an average of 2.4% after it was replaced with an AMD solution.
Image: Tesla
According to Electrek, in some models with AMD’s solution, the center touch display can malfunction due to overheating of the Ryzen chip. After Tesla discovered the problem, it recalled about 130,000 electric vehicles. These vehicles include the 2021 and 2022 Model S and Model X, and the 2022 Model 3 and Model Y.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), this is due to the fact that during fast charging or preparing for fast charging, more of the vehicle’s power for cooling is diverted to the battery in order to prevent excessive temperatures, as a result, the Ryzen chip cannot be sufficiently cooled, causing the processor to slow down or restart.
Tesla wrote in the recall notice:
Tesla wrote in the recall notice:
A lagging or restarting CPU may prevent the center screen from displaying the rearview camera image, gear selection, windshield visibility control settings, and warning lights, increasing the risk of a crash.
It is speculated that this may be a cooling unit shared between the infotainment system and the battery in these Tesla models, infotainment systems with AMD Ryzen chips have higher TDPs than previous Atom processors, and the higher power consumption leads to higher cooling requirements. Tesla said it will solve the problem through OTA software updates, and it is estimated that about 1% of users will actually be affected. Models that used Intel’s solution in the past will not be troubled by the problem.
