The recall is the first trouble Tesla faces in 2022. According to foreign media sources, from the end of last month to the beginning of this month, Tesla has launched 4 recalls in less than ten days. What is surprising is not only the number of recalls, but also the scale of the recalls.
On January 31, due to the failure of the vehicle's seatbelt tone, which will cause users to be unable to confirm the status of the seat belt and increase the risk of injury, Tesla announced that it will recall 817143 vehicles, including some Model S and Model X production from 2021 to 2022, Model 3 production from 2017 to 2022 and Model Y from 2022 to 2022. This is also the largest recall launched by Tesla.
Three days later, because the Boombox function would mask the sound of the pedestrian warning system and cause accidents, Tesla announced that it would recall 578607 vehicles.
The other two recalls, while not too large, also numbered 26,681 and 54,000, respectively. Four recalls of more than a million vehicles are something that has never happened to Tesla before. But Tesla is not in the predicament of recalls this year, and there have been many recalls in a row last year.
NHTSA documents show that on October 24, Tesla recalled a small number of Model 3s produced in 2020-2021 and 2800 Model Y produced in 2020-2021 and Model 3 produced in 2019-2021 and Model 3 produced in 2019-2021 due to airbag installation problems and loose front suspension transverse linkage fasteners.
On October 28, Tesla recalled 11,704 Model Ss, Model 3, Model X, and Model Ys produced in 2017-2021 and Model Ys produced in 2020-2021 because communication errors could lead to erroneous forward collision warning (FCW) or automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems. Standing at the current time node, it is these three recalls that have opened the curtain on Tesla's recall. Throughout November, Tesla had two recalls. One time is because the 826 Model Y produced in 2020-2022 may break the front and rear suspension steering knuckles, resulting in the separation of the suspension linkage, which may increase the risk of collision. Another time, because the driver's airbag pad may tear during the unfolding process, Tesla has recalled 7600 Model S and Model X produced in 2021.
On December 20 last year, Tesla said that the rearview camera harnesses of all Tesla Model 3 models produced from 2017 to 2020 could be damaged by the opening and closing of the trunk lid, resulting in the rearview camera images not being displayed, increasing the risk of collisions. In response to this problem, Tesla announced that it will recall 356,000 vehicles.
Also on this day, Tesla launched a recall. Some vehicles may have misaligned front trunk latch assemblies, preventing the auxiliary bonnet latch from engaging. If the primary latch is inadvertently released and the auxiliary latch is not engaged, the hood may open unexpectedly, obstructing the driver's view and increasing the risk of a collision. The accident mainly involved some Model Ss produced between 2014 and 2021, and the scale of the recall reached 119,000 vehicles.
In less than half a year, Tesla has frequently carried out 11 recalls in North America alone, which is behind tesla's inherent problems, on the other hand, it also shows that US regulators are strengthening the supervision of Tesla. As a leader of Tesla, Musk is also very dissatisfied with the almost harsh management of NHTSA, and in response to a question from netizens about the latest recall, Musk directly tweeted: "Interesting police let us do this (sigh). The words revealed a clear reluctance.
Last year, Tesla also launched 3 recalls in China, and from the perspective of time, the time span of 3 recalls is not large. According to the official website of the State Administration for Market Regulation, on November 5 last year, Tesla recalled 91 imported Model 3 vehicles in China with production dates between February 2, 2019 and October 20, 2019.
The reason for the recall is that the lateral linkage fixing bolts on the front subframe assembly may not be tightened according to the standard torque, and the bolts may loosen or come out of the subframe after long-term use, which may eventually cause the front suspension transverse linkage to come out of the subframe, which will affect vehicle handling and increase the risk of collision accidents, and there is a safety hazard.
On December 3, Tesla launched another recall. The reason for the recall is that the strength of the front and rear steering knuckles of the vehicle may not meet the design requirements, the knuckles may be deformed or broken during the use of the vehicle, and the suspension linkage may be detached from the knuckle under extreme stress conditions, affecting the driving control of the vehicle and increasing the risk of collision accidents. The recall is mainly for some domestically produced Model Y electric vehicles with a production date from February 4, 2021 to October 30, 2021, with a recall size of 21,599 units.
On the last day of last year, Tesla also conducted a recall domestically. The reason for this recall is similar to the recall initiated in the United States on December 20, and the front trunk latch assembly may not be aligned, mainly involving some imported Models 3 from October 4, 2018 to November 20, 2019 and some domestic Models between October 14, 2019 and December 27, 2020, with a total of 19,697 recalls.
Although the frequency of recalls is not too much, it has also increased significantly compared with Tesla's previous recalls, and as Tesla's sales continue to grow, the recalls faced thereafter should be further increased.
Hardware problems are the main but the proportion of software problems has also increased, from the Tesla recall situation, involving more reasons, but overall, mainly involving two aspects, respectively, hardware and software problems, further split is mainly concentrated in the five system level. In terms of hardware, the first is the suspension system, which was launched in the recall on October 24 last year, mainly because the front suspension transverse linkage fasteners may be loosened, resulting in the separation of the lateral linkage and the subframe.
In the recall initiated on November 22, the main problem was also the suspension aspect, which was the risk of fracture of the front and rear suspension steering knuckles, which would lead to the separation of the suspension linkages and reduce the stability and control of the vehicle. This problem has arisen not only in the United States, but also in a similar situation at home.
On December 3 last year, Tesla launched a recall because of the problem that the knuckle may deform or break during the use of the vehicle, and the problem that the suspension linkage may be detached from the knuckle under extreme stress conditions. Secondly, the luggage components of the vehicle have also had problems many times.
Tesla launched a massive recall on December 20 last year because the front trunk latch assembly may have been misaligned, preventing the auxiliary hood latch from joining. The recall also affected domestic users, so in the last month of last year, Tesla also carried out a recall of nearly 20,000 vehicles in China.
Then airbags are also one of the parts that has led to multiple recalls by Tesla. On October 24 last year, Tesla's first recall in the past six months was because the left and right airbags of the vehicle were not properly fixed to the roof longitudinal beam, which caused the airbags to bounce incorrectly and increase the risk of injury to passengers.
The November 8 recall is due to the risk of tearing of the airbag pads, which increases the probability of injury to users. Although the specific reasons for the two recalls are not the same, they both occur on the same system component. In addition to the hardware problems, Tesla also has 5 recalls that belong to the problems of assisted driving software and vehicle systems.
As early as October 28 last year, the vehicle's forward collision warning or automatic emergency braking may be activated unexpectedly, resulting in an increased risk of collision. On January 26 this year, the "rolling stop" feature available in Tesla's FSD Beta version may have problems, and Tesla also made a recall for this purpose. The other three recalls, although also software issues, exist in many ways. On January 31, Tesla launched its largest recall to date because the seatbelt tone may not start smoothly.
On February 1, a recall was made for a delay in defrosting performance due to the accidental opening of a valve in the heat pump and trapping the refrigerant in the evaporator, which also affected not only the United States but also users in Canada.
The most recent recall was due to the sound system, which Tesla previously introduced the "Boombox" feature, which allows the vehicle to play audio through external speakers while driving, which may obscure the warning tone issued by the pedestrian warning system and cause accidents.
Although the problems encountered in the software are not the same, the recall processing in this regard seems to be simpler, and the corresponding measure given by Tesla is only to carry out OTA upgrades. Through the analysis of these reasons, it is not difficult to find that Tesla has encountered some problems in the mechanical structure and has been recalled, and the other is a new bug in the process of continuous software upgrade, but there is no major problem in the more critical three electrics, which also shows that Tesla's core technology is still relatively secure.
Conclusion: Tesla's frequent recalls are not a bad thing
For cars, it is difficult to be perfect, and even if it is as strong as BBA, there are frequent recalls. Although the recall represents the defect of the vehicle, on the other hand, it also reflects the importance that the car company attaches to consumer safety and prevents problems before they occur. Tesla has been very tough on recalls, and it will never be recalled if it can be repaired by OTA, which has also led to many user organizations being dissatisfied with Tesla, and even the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has repeatedly intervened in the investigation.
At this stage, NHTSA's investigation of Tesla is very strict, and once there is a problem, it will force Tesla to carry out a recall, but from some recent cases, multiple recalls involve software problems, and only one OTA can be fixed. And as Tesla continues to recall and repair, the vehicle will become more and more perfect. For consumers, this is the equivalent of a dedicated security agency looking for mistakes in their cars, which is not necessarily a bad thing.