May 31 (Reuters) - Tesla is recalling 125,227

vehicles in the United States due to a malfunction in its seat

belt warning system that can increase the risk of injury in a

collision, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

said on Friday.

The regulator said the vehicles failed to comply with the

federal safety requirements as their seat belt warning light and

audible chime may not get activated when the driver is unbelted.

The recall affects certain 2012-2024 Model S, 2015-2024

Model X, 2017-2023 Model 3 and 2020-2023 Model Y vehicles.

Tesla will release an over-the-air software update to fix

the issue, with deployment expected to start in June.

The remedy will remove dependency on the driver seat

occupancy sensor from the software and only rely on driver seat

belt buckle and ignition status to activate the seat belt

reminder signals, the NHTSA said.

Tesla had recalled 200,000 Model S, X, and Y vehicles in the

U.S. in January due to a software malfunction which could

obstruct drivers' visibility while reversing.

It also recalled 3,878 Cybertrucks in April to fix an

accelerator pedal pad that could come loose and get lodged in

the interior trim.

U.S. auto safety regulators also opened an investigation

last month into whether Tesla's recall of more than 2 million

vehicles announced in December to install new Autopilot

safeguards was adequate following a series of crashes.