Tesla is recalling 1.62 million vehicles in China over the same autopilot safety control issue that forced it to upgrade over two million vehicles in the US.
The issue comes in that, historically, recalls require you to take your car in for service… hence the name. With OTA updates, the issues are often fixed before the consumer even knows there is an issue and the “recall” effectively just becomes communication that there was a problem.
These communications definitely need to continue happening and should remain mandatory by law, but calling them the same thing that requires a trip to the mechanic or dealership, to replace parts, is specifically being broadcast as a means to discredit the technology.
People that aren’t informaed about the difference end up believing these issues will prevent their car from working or reduce reliability when they are simple software patches that happen without the need for additional resources.
The issue comes in that, historically, recalls require you to take your car in for service… hence the name. With OTA updates, the issues are often fixed before the consumer even knows there is an issue and the “recall” effectively just becomes communication that there was a problem.
These communications definitely need to continue happening and should remain mandatory by law, but calling them the same thing that requires a trip to the mechanic or dealership, to replace parts, is specifically being broadcast as a means to discredit the technology.
People that aren’t informaed about the difference end up believing these issues will prevent their car from working or reduce reliability when they are simple software patches that happen without the need for additional resources.
The vehicle is unsafe to drive until the update happens
Whether it’s easier for the user to verify themselves, or it’s easier to take it to the dealer isn’t really relevant
It’s not being used to discredit the technology - it’s how you tell consumers that the product is not safe without a modification