Fri, April 28th 2017 at 10:13 AM 4 DON'T MISS: Tesla Model X recall replaces third-row seat backs (Apr 2016) Tesla calls yesterday's action a "voluntary recall," and stresses that only a small number of the 53,000 vehicles—less than 5 percent, perhaps as low as 2 percent—is likely to suffer from the problem. A letter to Tesla owners, obtained and published by TechCrunch, stresses that the company does not know of a single accident or injury that has resulted from the issue. The specific problem involved an internal gear in the parking-brake assembly, supplied by Brembo, that could fracture once engaged, leading the brake to remain "on." While only a small number of cars will have the defective gears, Tesla will replace them all because it's difficult to tell by looking at them whether they're bad. Tesla will file the recall with the NHTSA, and the Silicon Valley carmaker says it expects to have received all necessary repair parts by October. Replacing both parts on the car's parking-brake assembly takes less than an hour. The recall process is starting now, and Tesla says it expects it to be completed by October if all 53,000 vehicles are returned for inspection. In its letter to owners, Tesla wrote: "We have determined that the electric parking brakes installed on Model S and Model X vehicles built between February and October 2016 may contain a small gear that could have been manufactured improperly by our third?party supplier. "If this gear were to break, the parking brake would continue to keep the car from moving, but the parking brake would then be stuck in place. "There have been no reports of the parking brake system failing to hold a parked vehicle or failing to stop a vehicle in an emergency as a result of this condition, and this part has no impact on the car’s regular braking systems. "We have also determined that only a very small percentage of gears in vehicles built during this period were manufactured improperly."