[addicted]

I agree with others that business reasons makes the most sense. As they mentioned, the costs are immaterial, but it allows them to inspect and determine whether this is a widespread issue and address it before anyone else gets injured and slaps them with a lawsuit.

The cost of a lawsuit would probably be significantly greater than the inspections.

[mikeash]

I got curious as to what the cost would be and ran some rough numbers. I think Tesla's labor rate is $125/hour. Figure their cost is half that. At 20 minutes per inspection, that's about $20. Multiply by 90,000 cars and that's about $1.8 million. 2014 revenue was about $3.2 billion and 2015 should be quite a bit higher, so "immaterial" does seem justified given that this involves nearly every car they've ever built.

[vinceguidry]

I daresay a lawsuit would be the least of their worries if there was an actual incident. After Volkswagen and Chrysler, I wouldn't be surprised if the next incident results in jail time.