Tesla electronic cars are being charged in Changzhou, East China's Jiangsu Province, on May 8. Photo: cnsphoto

Tesla will recall nearly 50,000 imported Model S and Model X cars made between 2013 and 2018 starting Friday due to suspension flaws, the Chinese market regulator said on Friday.

Tesla said it will recall imported Model S and Model X vehicles produced between September 17, 2013 and August 16, 2017, or a total of 29,193 vehicles. 

It said the ball studs of the rear connecting rod of the front suspension will have initial cracks when experiencing external shock, and the cracks may extend and cause the ball studs to break with continued use.

It will also recall 19,249 imported Model S vehicles manufactured between September 17, 2013 and January 15, 2018 due to a rear suspension flaw. 

This is not the first time that Tesla ordered a recall from the Chinese market, which sparked safety concerns.

In February this year, the producer recalled 3,183 imported Model X vehicles in China, which were made in 2016, due to a potential issue that may make steering harder and increase the risk of a crash.

The Chinese market regulator said Tesla recalled close to 15,000 vehicles in 2019, accounting for more than 40 percent of the total number of recalls in the Chinese market that year.

Tesla cars have been suspected of causing traffic accidents in the past months.

In September this year, an accident in Nanchong, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, involving a Tesla car killed two people and injured six, police said. 

Some Chinese netizens blamed the driver, but others wondered why Tesla's auto-brake function failed to prevent the accident. 

In August, a driver from Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, said his Model 3 suddenly accelerated in a parking lot, damaging about a dozen cars. He also noted that the car's brakes were not working. Another driver from Hangzhou reported in May that her Tesla once accelerated for no reason.

Tesla on Wednesday reported its fifth consecutive quarterly profit on record, with revenue of $8.8 billion, boosted by an uptick in vehicle deliveries and sales of environmental regulatory credits to other automakers, Reuters reported.

The electric carmaker also confirmed its target to deliver half a million vehicles by the end of this year, a goal that will require it to significantly ramp up vehicle sales in the fourth quarter. It will soon export China-made Model 3 vehicles to more than 10 European countries this month.