1,300 Tesla brand electric cars were recalled in July 2023 by the manufacturer. This case, which is not really one, is an opportunity to recall all the problems surrounding the notion of “recall” in 2023. We talk about it in our newsletter Watt Else, specializing in electric mobility.
On July 26, 2023, approximately 1,300 Tesla were recalled by the American manufacturer. A low figure, very low, when compared to the number of brand vehicles in circulation (several million worldwide). So why did this information deserve a news item on our site? Because for once the encore was a real encore. Read: an express request to the drivers of the cars concerned to bring their vehicle in for repair for a slight material problem – the alignment of the cameras.
And this case, which is not one, crystallizes the whole controversy around the term “recall” in 2023.
When we read that Tesla is recalling “millions of cars”, we think without thinking that a seat belt can come off and kill the driver in an accident, or that a rim threatens to come unscrewed. This is false: most of these “recalls” are adjustments offered by Tesla through updates directly pushed to the cars concerned. Minor issues, corrected by software and Tesla’s ability to provide customers with a fast, safe and efficient upgrade through it.
What is a recall?
What is the situation for the rest of the industry? The picture is far from glorious. According to a Forbes tally from February 2023, in 2022, Ford recalled 9 million vehicles, Stellantis 3 million, Nissan 2 million and Mercedes, Volkswagen and BMW just over a million each. You’re here ? 4 million, which would place the American in second position on this SAV ranking. But the detail we mentioned in the previous paragraph makes Tesla recalls fundamentally less problematic or invasive than those of other manufacturers.
Of the 4 million Teslas recalled in 2022, notes Forbes, 99% were patched by a software update delivered via the internet without the slightest intervention from the manufacturer or a technician. In contrast, Ford repaired its recalled vehicles via software update in 1% of cases, Nissan in 2% of cases and Mercedes in 17% of cases. Others ? All of their recalled vehicles had to be returned to the dealership, none having been repaired or updated using the software.
If we rely on these figures, the pyramid is inverted and Tesla who was the second manufacturer to make “the most recalls” doesn’t even make it into the top 10, with barely a hundred thousand vehicles on which a real repair is needed. Recall terminology, inherited from a world where software updates weren’t possible (and unwanted, with automakers being able to sell a new model equipped with the up-to-date infotainment suite), no longer makes sense in 2023. .
Tesla is under a magnifying glass, scrutinized as the leader in the electric car market by an industry struggling to find a place and taking advantage of every blind spot to tackle the American. Recall is one of them and the terminology is not able to tell the difference between a major problem requiring intervention and an update.
Do you already see what a million is?
The subject even tends to get worse when transposed to the whole world. Just look at the “recall” of all Chinese Teslas in May 2023. Be aware: over a million Teslas recalled ! China’s roads overwhelmed by electric vehicles with a big T! Tesla service centers unable to handle this influx of customers! That’s what you might think from reading some press headlines. But the reality is quite different: Tesla has simply pushed an update allowing Chinese customers to adjust the power of the regenerative brake. The very same update was offered to US customers in April 2023 and did not trigger any teaser headlines in the press.
The difference between the two events? The Chinese agency that deals with vehicle safety has decided to officially communicate about this feature and named it the Forbidden Word: recall. Electrek, commenting in English on the sequence, reminds us that the media is not necessarily anti-Tesla, but rather composed of incompetent journalists who have lived a good part of their existence with reminders which were real reminders.
It is now up to them and the administrations to update themselves. And, perhaps, historic builders to discover the Internet and the magic of remote updates.
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