In 2021, Tesla made six recalls in China alone, and into 2022, the recalls are still continuing
Photo/Visual China
Wen | Caijing reporter Guo Yu zhao cheng
Edited | Shi Zhiliang
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), which just won the 2021 global sales of new energy vehicles, followed by the first large-scale recall in the Chinese market in 2022, involving 26,047 vehicles.
According to the Defective Product Management Center of the State Administration for Market Regulation, Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. filed a recall plan with the State Administration for Market Regulation. Since February 18, some domestically produced Model 3 and Model Y electric vehicles produced between December 28, 2020 and January 15, 2022, with a total of 26,047 electric vehicles, will be recalled.
The recall announcement shows that due to defects in the software control function of the electronic expansion valve, the windshield defrost effect will not meet the standards, thus affecting the driving vision and there is a safety hazard.
It is understood that the recall method is a remote upgrade (OTA), can not pass the OTA recall of vehicles, Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. will contact the relevant users through the Tesla service center, free upgrade software for the vehicle.
On February 17 and February 18, Tesla's total market value shrank to $885.6 billion, evaporating $68.6 billion (about 434 billion yuan) in two days.
For every two new cars sold, one is recalled
This is Tesla's first large-scale recall in the Chinese market after entering 2022.
The recall of 26,047 domestic Teslas involved 12,003 Model 3 and 14,044 Model Y. The most recalled models were the Model 3 Standard Endurance Rear-Drive Upgrade (production dates december 28, 2020 to December 30, 2021) that sold 11,019 units, and the Model Y Standard Endurance Afterdrive Version sold 9,884 units (production dates from August 2, 2021 to January 15, 2022).
According to the announcement issued by the State Administration of Market Regulation of China, when the temperature outside the car is lower than minus 10 degrees Celsius, the windshield defrosting system cannot achieve the defrosting effect stipulated in the relevant national laws and regulations, and the decline of the defrosting function adversely affects the driver's vision, thereby increasing the possibility of the vehicle colliding when driving in cold weather.
The above problems occur because the vehicle's heat pump electronic expansion valve positioning will have a slight movement, and the software closely related to this function (2021.44 to 2021.44.30.6 version) has no corrective function, which may cause the valve to be partially opened and the heat pump compressor to stop working for a long time, resulting in the failure of the heating function in the car. The defrost effect is not up to standard, which is its visual performance.
In addition, Caijing learned that there are currently no accidents and casualties in the vehicles involved in the recall, but the number of warranty or claim cases has reached 528.
Subsequently, the news related to Tesla's large-scale recall or Sanhua intelligent control expansion valve began to circulate on the Internet. "Online reports are untrue, and the company has never publicly claimed to be a supplier to Tesla." The relevant person in charge of Sanhua Zhikong said in response to the media, "This matter must have nothing to do with us, we have a confidentiality agreement with our customers, and even if there is, it will not be disclosed to the public." ”
According to the Securities Times, the software issues mentioned in the announcement do not involve related products with suppliers.
In fact, in the past year, Tesla has launched six recalls in the Chinese market alone, involving 543811 electric vehicles, covering imported Model 3, Model S and domestic Model 3, Model Y and other models. If tesla's global delivery volume of 936172 vehicles in 2021 is calculated, the proportion of recalled vehicles is 58%, which is equivalent to about every two vehicles sold, and one vehicle is recalled.
Tesla was last recalled twice in China, in December 2021.
On December 3, 2021, Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. recalled some domestically produced Model Y electric vehicles, a total of 21,599 vehicles, mainly involving steering knuckle problems. On December 31, 2021, Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. recalled some domesticAlly produced 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 load compartment lock latch problem), and recalled some imported Model 3 electric vehicles, a total of 35836 vehicles (mainly involving the trunk cover problem).
Also in February 2022, Tesla has launched three recalls in the United States, involving more than 1.4 million vehicles. On February 1, Tesla recalled 26,700 cars in the United States due to the failure of the defrost and defogging system; on February 3, Tesla recalled 817,000 cars in the United States due to problems with the vehicle seat belt, which became the largest recall in Tesla's history, equivalent to 87% of the annual sales in 2021; the last time occurred on February 10, Tesla recalled 578,600 cars in the United States due to audio problems.
The "ghost brake" was investigated
Braking systems and autopilot assist are tesla's most questioned issues.
If there is a problem, there will be rights protection and investigation. In China, activist car owners wearing "brake failure" T-shirts climbed onto the Tesla booth at the Shanghai Auto Show. In the United States, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has begun another investigation into Tesla's Autopilot Assist system.
During the Shanghai Auto Show in April 2021, Ms. Zhang wore a T-shirt with the slogan "Brake Failure" to tesla booths to defend her rights, and a series of Tesla responses followed in to attract attention.
On May 6, Ms. Zhang filed a civil complaint with the Beiguan District People's Court of Anyang City, arguing that some of the remarks of Tesla and Tesla Vice President of External Affairs Tao Lin violated her right to reputation, and requested that the legal responsibilities of relevant personnel be investigated according to law, and claimed 50,000 yuan in moral damages from Tesla. At the same time, Tesla also countersued Ms. Zhang for violating the right to reputation, and Tesla demanded that she apologize and compensate for the loss of the right to reputation of 5 million yuan. As of now, the case has not been finalized.
According to the incomplete statistics of the "Finance" reporter, in 2021, there are more than three cases involving Tesla's rights protection incidents, and there are more than three in the newspaper, regardless of whether the judicial ruling supports the rights protection of the owner, Tesla has chosen to accuse the owner of the right to reputation, and the amount of compensation ranges from 500,000 to 5 million yuan.
In the United States, Tesla will also be investigated by NHTSA this month in addition to launching three large-scale recalls.
NHTSA said it had received 354 complaints related to Phantom Braking in the past nine months. In the three months before Feb. 2 alone, there were already 107 complaints related to "ghost brakes." On February 17, EST, NHTSA officially launched an investigation into Autopilot, Tesla's self-driving assisted driving system.
The so-called "ghost brake" means that when Autopilot is turned on, the vehicle will suddenly and without warning brakes in some kind of situation that does not require braking, and many car owners are worried about rear-end accidents on the highway. As of now, there have been no reports of casualties in the complaints related to the "ghost brake".
NHTSA also investigated Tesla's autopilot assist system in 2020 and found no safety issues with Tesla, and the previous 246 accidental acceleration accidents were caused by improper use of pedals.
But the negative events have not constrained Tesla to become the king of sales. According to the association data, Tesla's sales in China in January were 59,845 vehicles, and the sales exceeded 50,000 for the sixth consecutive month. Even excluding the number of exports to Europe, the number of cars delivered to China has reached 19,346, and the overall performance is still higher than that of new car-making forces such as Wei Xiaoli.
