In 2022, Tesla's start to the year doesn't seem to be going well.
Tesla China recall
According to the news of the State Administration for Market Regulation on February 18, Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. recently filed a recall plan with the State Administration for Market Regulations in accordance with the requirements of the Regulations on the Administration of the Recall of Defective Automobile Products and the Implementation Measures for the Regulations on the Administration of the Recall of Defective Automobile Products.
Effective now, the recall will be made of some domestically produced Model 3 (12,003 units) and ModelY (14,044 units) electric vehicles produced between December 28, 2020 and January 15, 2022, for a total of 26,047 units.
The electronic expansion valve of the heat pump in some vehicles within the scope of this recall will have a slight movement when positioning, because the software (version 2021.44 to 2021.44.30.6) has no correction function, which may cause the valve to be partially opened in the long run, the heat pump compressor to stop working, and the heating function in the car to fail. In the above state, especially when the temperature outside the car is lower than minus 10 degrees, the windshield defrosting system cannot achieve the defrosting effect stipulated by the relevant national laws and regulations, and the decline of the defrost function adversely affects the driver's field of vision, thereby increasing the possibility of collision risk of the vehicle when driving in cold weather, and there is a safety hazard.
Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. will upgrade the software for vehicles within the scope of the recall through the vehicle remote upgrade (OTA) technology, and the user can complete the recall without going to the store; for vehicles that cannot be recalled through the car remote upgrade (OTA) technology, Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. will contact the relevant users through the Tesla service center to upgrade the software for the vehicle free of charge to eliminate safety hazards.
Data disclosed on the website of the State Administration for Market Regulation shows that this is the third time since December last year that Tesla has recalled domestic electric vehicles. The previous two were:
On December 3, 2021, Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. recalled some domestically produced Model Y electric vehicles, a total of 21,599 vehicles, mainly involving the issue of steering knuckles.
On December 31, 2021, Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. recalled some domestic Model 3 electric vehicles, a total of 144208 vehicles, mainly involving the trunk cover problem; at the same time, Tesla Motors (Beijing) Co., Ltd. recalled some imported Model S electric vehicles, a total of 19697 vehicles (mainly involving the front trunk lock latch problem), and recalled some imported Model 3 electric vehicles, a total of 35836 vehicles (mainly involving the trunk cover problem).
Tesla recalled 1.47 million vehicles in 1 month in the United States
Not only China, Tesla's recall in the United States is even larger, according to incomplete statistics, in the late January to the present less than a month, Tesla has launched four recalls in the United States, involving more than 1.47 million units.
On February 10, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that Tesla has recalled 578,600 electric vehicles due to audio problems.
Vehicles in the recall include the Tesla Model S, Model X and Model Y produced between 2020-2022, and the Tesla Model 3.Boombox mode produced in 2017-2022 that allows vehicles to play audio through external speakers while driving, which may obscure the warning tone emitted by the pedestrian warning system.
On February 3, local time, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued an announcement that Tesla is conducting safety recalls on more than 817,000 vehicles because of problems with the seat belt tips of the relevant batches of vehicles. When the driver does not fasten the seat belt after the vehicle in question is started, the buzzer fails to start, resulting in no seat belt prompt ring.
It is also the largest recall in Tesla's history. Tesla's global sales in 2021 increased by about 87.4% y/y to 936,000 units. The size of the recalled vehicles is equivalent to 87% of its annual sales.
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.
In addition, on January 26, Tesla recalled 54,000 cars in the United States due to self-driving parking capabilities, and on February 1, Tesla recalled 26,700 cars due to the failure of the defrost and defogging system.
Tesla's "ghost brakes" were investigated
The large number of car recalls is just one of the many problems Tesla faces. At present, Tesla's more difficult problem is related to the "ghost brake" incident.
Local time reported on February 18, 2022, the US auto safety regulator launched an investigation into Tesla, because Tesla will suddenly and automatically brake at high speeds without reason. Many complainants refer to it as a "ghost brake."
The U.S. government said that in the past 9 months, it has received 354 complaints from owners about the "ghost brakes" of Tesla's Model 3 and Model Y models. The survey covers about 416,000 Tesla electric vehicles produced in 2021 and 2022. Documents released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) say these vehicles can accidentally brake when driving at high speeds, and many owners are worried about rear-end accidents at high speeds.
It is reported that as of the close of trading on February 17, local time, Tesla's stock price closed at $876.35, down 5.09%, with a total market value of $905.7 billion and a market value of $52.6 billion (about 333.4 billion yuan).
Although there have been no reports of casualties in this "ghost brake" complaint. But since 2016, NHTSA has mastered at least 33 crashes caused by Tesla's "autopilot" that have killed 11 people. For the above survey, some netizens said that it seems that self-driving car technology still has a long way to go.