SEOUL – Reuters has reported that South Korea is investigating suspected safety issues with vehicles made by U.S. automaker Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), which is competing strongly with Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) in the South Korean electric vehicle market as well as all imported vehicles in general.
Braking and steering systems including the Autopilot function were part of the investigation, a transport ministry official said on Wednesday.
The ministry declined to elaborate but South Korean media said Tesla’s Model 3 was under investigation, and the probe might take anywhere from six months to a year.
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Tesla would cooperate with the investigation, an official at its South Korean unit said.
Last month the company sold 2,827 vehicles in South Korea, with the Model 3 being the second-most imported vehicle behind the Mercedes-Benz E Class.
The United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in February this year determined limitations of the Autopilot features to be one of the causes of a 2018 Model S crash that killed Apple Inc. engineer Walter Huang.
The federal agency is also probing battery cooling systems in the same model line for vehicles manufactured between 2012 and 2016.
