Tesla recall 26V-445: Noncompliant Vehicles Incorrectly Imported/FMVSS 208, 201
A noncompliant vehicle may have reduced occupant protections, increasing the risk of injury during a crash.
Campaign facts
- NHTSA campaign
- 26V445000 (26V-445)
- Manufacturer number
- SB-26-00-004
- Filed by
- Tesla, Inc.
- Report received
- July 7, 2026
- Component
- Air bags:knee bolster; Structure:body:bumpers
- Vehicles potentially affected
- 15
- Model years
- 2024–2026
- Built between
- December 21, 2023 and February 16, 2026
- Owner letters
- September 4, 2026
- Recall initiated by
- The manufacturer
- Safety standard
- FMVSS 201
What is wrong
Tesla, Inc. (Tesla) is recalling certain 2026 Model Y and 2024 Model 3 vehicles. The vehicles were originally built for a foreign market and do not have knee air bags, may not be equipped with certain interior safety countermeasures, and may not have been tested for bumper impact resistance procedures. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard numbers, 208, "Occupant Crash Protection," 201, "Occupant Protection in Interior Impact," and Part 581, "Bumper Standards."
The risk
A noncompliant vehicle may have reduced occupant protections, increasing the risk of injury during a crash.
Why air bag defects matter: Restraint defects matter most at the moment you can least react to them, which is why air bag campaigns are among the ones worth booking first.
The remedy
Tesla will repurchase noncompliant vehicles currently registered in the United States, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed September 4, 2026. Owners may contact Tesla customer service at 1-877-798-3752 or [email protected]. Tesla's number for this recall is SB-26-00-004.
About the air bags
Air bags are supplemental restraints: sensors and a control module decide in milliseconds whether a crash is severe enough to fire an inflator, and the bag has to deploy at the right moment and with the right force.
Vehicles covered by campaign 26V-445
- Tesla Model 3 2024
- Tesla Model Y 2026
What to do
- Enter your VIN in NHTSA’s lookup (below) to confirm that your vehicle is included and that the repair has not already been done.
- Call a dealer for the brand and book the repair. Quote NHTSA campaign 26V-445 and the manufacturer’s number SB-26-00-004.
- If the notice tells owners not to let anyone sit in a particular seat, follow that until the repair is done.
- Safety recall repairs are carried out free of charge by the manufacturer’s dealers. If you already paid for this repair yourself, ask the manufacturer about reimbursement and keep your receipt.
Check by VIN
A campaign rarely covers every vehicle of a model year. Enter your 17-character VIN to find the recall campaigns filed for your make, model and model year. The VIN is on the driver’s side of the dashboard (visible through the windshield), on the door-jamb label, and on your registration and insurance documents.
Is a recall still open on your vehicle? Only NHTSA’s official VIN check can say whether a campaign applies to your exact vehicle and whether the repair has already been done.
Your VIN is decoded with NHTSA’s public vPIC service to identify the make, model and year. It is not stored and is not added to any page address.
The official record
This page reproduces the campaign as filed with NHTSA. The NHTSA record is authoritative — if anything here differs, follow the agency.
Open campaign 26V-445 on NHTSA.gov