On February 3, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced that Tesla, the world's largest electric car manufacturer, is conducting safety recalls on more than 817,000 vehicles.
In contrast, Tesla's global sales in 2021 increased by about 87.4% year-on-year to 936,000 units. The size of the vehicles in this recall is equivalent to 87.2% of its annual sales.
At first glance, the number of recalls will definitely be startled, and the production and sales of pure electric vehicles of domestic car-making new power companies will probably not be enough for these sales. But a closer look found that the reason for Tesla's recall was somewhat funny.
[1] There is no sound of seat belts not being fastened
The recall involves all four models on sale under Tesla's umbrella. These include the Model S and Model X produced between 2021-2022, the Model 3 in 2017-2022, and the Model Y in 2020-2022.
According to the official information of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the reason for Tesla's recall is due to a software problem, when the driver does not wear a seat belt after the relevant vehicle is started, the buzzer cannot be activated, resulting in no seat belt prompt bell. This means that there is no sound of seat belts not being fastened.
I think since the birth of the seat belt untied reminder sound, Tesla is one of the very few companies that have been recalled because of this problem, because it is a very inconspicuous small problem, because wearing a seat belt has become everyone's subconscious.
But in the eyes of the National Public Traffic Safety Administration, this is a big problem because it's about safety. Even if there have never been casualties due to seat belt problems.
From Tesla's recall, it is not difficult to see that as a pure electric vehicle, some of the recall problems are very strange, not only the problem of this seat belt, Tesla has also been recalled because of the front trunk lock latch, trunk cover and other issues. In today's very mature automobile industry, Tesla has always made some low-level mistakes.
[2] The recall of pure electric vehicles is very different from traditional cars
The recall of traditional cars, the car needs to go to the 4S shop to repair, even if it is a software problem, it also needs to go to the 4S shop to solve. Although Tesla recalled 810,000 vehicles, all of them can be solved online. Tesla considers the seatbelt reminder sound issue to be a software issue and will therefore be resolved remotely wirelessly in February.
Therefore, Tesla almost effortlessly solved the problem. So recalling 816,000 vehicles is not enough pressure for Tesla.
[3] The scale of recalls for pure electric vehicles is likely to exceed that of internal combustion engine vehicles
The scale of the recall of pure electric vehicles may surpass that of internal combustion engine vehicles in the future, for the simple reason that the parts of pure electric vehicles are more versatile. In the past, fuel vehicles could be distinguished by the size of the engine displacement, by the number of gearbox gears, and by the height of the interior configuration. So even if there is a problem with the recall, the scale is limited to the same batch of models.
However, if it is a pure electric vehicle, it is the same type of battery used regardless of the high or low model. Regardless of the high and low models use the same motor. In terms of other comfort configurations, even all of them are standard, and then the user wants to use it and then pay for it.
Therefore, in the future, the recall of pure electric vehicles will be non-hierarchical, so this Tesla recall is almost to recall all four models currently on sale, without exception.