Tesla is recalling hundreds of thousands of cars in the United States over fears their full self-driving (FSD) software may cause a crash.

The announcement was made by the country's auto safety regulator, the NHTSA, which has been conducting an investigation into the company's autopilot systems.

The watchdog said Tesla's software allows a vehicle to "exceed speed limits or travel through intersections in an unlawful or unpredictable manner", increasing the risk of an accident.

The recall covers 2016-2023 Model S, Model X, 2017-2023 Model 3, and 2020-2023 Model Y vehicles equipped with FSD Beta software.

It was unclear, currently, whether the alert had implications for Tesla's cars in other countries including the UK.

"Tesla will release an over-the-air (OTA) software update, free of charge", the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.

Tesla said it was not aware of any injuries or deaths that may be related to the recall issue.

"The feature could potentially infringe upon local traffic laws or customs while executing certain driving manoeuvres," the regulator explained.

"Possible situations where the problem could occur include travelling or turning through certain intersections during a yellow traffic light and making a lane change out of certain turn-only lanes to continue travelling straight.

"The system may respond insufficiently to changes in posted speed limits or not adequately account for the driver's adjustment of the vehicle's speed to exceed posted speed limits."

Last year, Tesla recalled nearly 54,000 US vehicles with the same software that may have allowed some models to stop too slowly.

Tesla and the NHTSA say FSD's advanced driving features do not make the cars autonomous and require drivers to pay attention.