iSeeCars used NHTSA's list of recalls from 2014-2023 to learn which of today's cars are expected to have the most recalls over an expected 30-year lifespan.
Tesla Identified As Most Recalled Car Brand, Mercedes & Toyota Least::iSeeCars used NHTSA's list of recalls from 2014-2023 to learn which of today's cars are expected to have the most recalls over an expected 30-year lifespan.
If they could fix these issues via OTA then they wouldn't be forced to do physical recalls. They've had windshields fly out of their frames at highway speed, steering wheels come off, catastrophic lower ball joint separation, vehicles leaving their factory with missing brake pads...software updates only take you so far
Yeah there's definitely been some aggregious recall issues, but the problem is the stats include minor things that only required a quick OTA, so it skews the numbers awkwardly and means we can't properly judge the real problems they had
If they separated the numbers, we might see that either Tesla has very few real recalls, Tesla actually does have a lot of real recalls but also happens to have software ones, or it's about normal
It's an AMAZING benefit. You get in your car in the morning and it says stuff like "we've improved the ability of your auto dimming headlights to detect oncoming traffic", or "we've added a setting to automatically turn on your headlights when your windshield wipers are on", or "we've added an ability to move the blindspot camera window".
A traditional car never "improves". If your windshield wiper rain detector sucks, well too bad. Maybe when you buy another car in 10 years it'll be better. Where in cars with OTA updates, they are constantly improved. Like I said, it's an amazing benefit and I would imagine most other car companies are looking to adopt this model.
Kinda. But as a purchaser I'd rather buy an expensive product w/ consistent experience vs something that only sometimes works. Generally OTA updates are a LOT better because I don't have to take time out of my life to go somewhere to deal with it. My time is worth a lot to me.
Two and a half years with my Model 3. The only issue I’ve had is that my frunk sensor died, so the car thought the frunk was open, which I could override and tell it that it wasn’t.
Tesla sent a mobile tech to my office, they replaced it while I was working, and didn’t charge me a thing.
Honest question here, would you purchase your Tesla again? I’m in the market for a new car and am really considering an EV. The problem is, I need something with some utility, such as a Model Y, a Rivian, or an F150 Lightning.
The Rivian and the Lightning are out of my price range. The Model Y is more affordable. But I have reservations about Tesla both from a quality control standpoint and from a social standpoint (it being a Musk company).
I have a 2023 Model 3 Performance that I got in February. No build issues, only problem is my wife curbed the rims (lol) which seems to be common as the rims extend past the tires and they are low profile. No comment on her parking abilities.
The speed and power is amazing, the car works well, and the software updates have been good.
Things to remember:
-NACS is only available in Teslas at the moment and is becoming the new universal standard in EVs in North America - do you want to choose another vehicle and have to use adapters for supercharging?
-Other people work at Tesla, not just Elon. Those people are not Elon and have families to feed.
-Tesla mobile service will fix your car in your driveway or at work or wherever (some other companies offer this but not all of them)
-If you have a dog, dog mode is the shit
I have zero regrets with my purchase. I’m told the new Ys are much nicer than ones from even just last year. I have 45k miles on my Model 3, the only thing I’ve had issues with is the frunk sensor. Depending on how you drive, you might find yourself needing tires sooner rather than later, but I got 35k miles out of my OEM tires. The only thing I told people to consider was price, but if you can take advantage of the tax credit, it’s a no brained nowadays.
I also have an F150 Lightning for what it’s worth, it’s a great vehicle, but it’s much dumber than my Tesla is.
The only reason I’m wanting to get rid of my Model 3 is because I want a full sized sedan or crossover again.
Used the app to submit a ticket, was kept updated on chat with the tech from the very beginning to the end of the whole thing.
Tech comes out to my house and does a computer upgrade and courtesy filter change right in my garage while I sipped coffee in sweats.
The whole thing was covered under warranty and free. People like to hate on Tesla just by association, but I’m pretty old now by internet standards, I’ve had a lot of cars and dealt with a lot of manufacturers, and Tesla was hands down the best car repair experience of my life.
Even the luxury brands I owned which would offer valet and massages in the lobby still suck compared to comfortably sipping coffee in my own house.
People keep forgetting that every recall is a fix for a bug/problem in the car. Sure, Tesla's fixes might be easier, but that also means they have the buggier car. Until Tesla actually fixes the problem, it doesn't matter how easy it is to fix: you still have to deal with the fallout.
That's even more immensely true for safety-critical systems like cars. Sure, Tesla's fix for phantom braking might eventually come and it might be an easy software fix. But wouldn't you just rather get a car without that problem?
They follow the fail fast principle. They've innovated faster than anyone else. So to me, it seems intentional. Still scares the crap out of me and is one reason I don't want one.
Well when a “recall” is the government removing software feature after software feature from your car, yes there’s a lot of recalls. There really should be a separate process for non-safety critical software changes that the government mandates.
At least part of the reason is software updates are so easy.. Tesla can do dozens of them without incurring any cost outside their normal development processes, so they do.
Another manufactuer may wait until there are several or just not issue some of the more minor ones at all, because each one is a dealer visit.
Then again Tesla has caused new safety issues with the easy updating. Though it isn't really about the update method, but their software culture. Some of the recalls are about bugs that weren't on the original factory software. Rather Tesla created need for safety recall by sending over OTA update, that had bug or misbehaviour on the new update software. Then causing them to have to update, the update with now recall flagged OTA to fix the safety issue they created by uploading flawed software update to the car.
Which I would assume won't happen with others, since they test the software to death before deploying it. Since it's a service visit. So it's far cheaper to spend extra couple million on software testing, than finance yet another round of service visits to update with fix a flawed software update.
What happens when Elon loses more money and decides you're going to pay for the software updates or you're going to get one that makes your car useless? It won't be long before you'll have to pay a monthly "maintenance fee" just to be able to operate it. That's the problem with buying a car that they can do whatever they want to it whenever they want. I'll stick with a dumb car that doesn't tell anyone how I drive or where I go.
I love electric though and when it becomes more feasible, I'll start swapping some old fun stuff to electric. Until then though, I'll stick with dinosaur bones and boost.
I'm far from a fan of Tesla and this is just clickbait. Yes they have the most "recalls", but as quite a few have already said, those are software updates that can be handled without taking the car in, or a tech will come to the car wherever it is.
On the other hand, my Toyota RAV4 Prime had a recall where the car might shut off while driving in EV mode in cold weather! I had to take it to the dealer to get that fixed, which was a software update and probably could have been done OTA. Further to note, Toyota sends out messages to each car on the 1st of each month stating they need to perform certain recalls. Sometimes even AFTER they're been done, simply because Toyota pulls data from dealers' databases instead it up so the dealers' network pushes the completed service information.
So yeah, Tesla doing a series of software patches to address....whatever it is they're addressing isn't bad at all. At least the owners don't need to take it in for a patch that takes all day, then continue to receive messages for months after the patch has been applied that they need the patch.
I have mixed feelings about recalls. On the surface, it sounds terrible that you have to bring your car in because something is wrong. Yeah, it is super annoying, but on the flip side a recall means the carmaker admits to finding an issue with your car and is willing to repair it. In the past, carmakers would just kind of gloss over things that were found to be defective and hope that it wasn't a big enough problem to demand them do anything.
So no one wants a lot of recalls, obviously, but having no recalls always means that you are on the hook when something breaks because the carmaker doesn't think it is a problem with their design.
The article points out that a lot of these recalls for Tesla are OTA updates that don't require you to bring the car in. It's basically transparent to you as the owner of the vehicle.
Yes... but would Tesla be so open about "yeah this update was about a safety flaw in the cars control software". Since that is what OP was saying on my reading. Yeah the OTA might fix the things, but all you might get from unscrupulous car maker is "we did feature improvements on the drive train algorhitmics". Said improvement being "we removed feature called critical bug from the software". However the last part they wouldn't tell you. Well now they have to.
Since the Recall is not about the database really or the name. It is about the underlying law and regulation, that demands car makers to notify safety authorities upon finding a safety flaw or issue with their vehicle and to not lie about it. Withholding such discovery under recall laws is illegal and to make a point companies have been punished under that statute. So not like it is a solution looking for problem. Oh there was a problem. It is only natural. No maker wants to admit bad stuff about their product, if they can avoid it. However safety recall notice regulations says "own up immediately upon finding an issue or face penalties."
Again this isn't about "Tesla bad". Since most of the "you hid safety flaws" is the big old legacy conglomerates. However for this system to work no one is above the law. Everyone has to own up to their safety issues, including Tesla. Might they also be equally open without the law? Well we would need alternate universe to find out. Since Tesla has operated all it's existence under safety notice laws. So we don't know how they would behave, if they had a choice. Given example of legacy auto... probably not so well. big business gonna big business.
The manufacturer identifies an issue with a vehicle, and "recalls" it to one of their service centers to fix it. Usually this is some defect in design or a part that needs to be corrected.
Sometimes it’s the government identifying an “issue” not the manufacture. Or a government control changes that the already manufactured car doesn’t comply with so the manufacturer needs to recall the car to make it compliant. The latter happens a lot with Tesla but they can perform the recall with an update to the software remotely without the car coming to the shop, a large portion of their recalls are just software updates not deserving of the word