The inverter has hidden safety hazards, and Tesla recalled nearly 130,000 Model 3s

Editor's introduction: Tesla, which has just ushered in the best quarter in history, has been in turmoil, not only launching a large-scale recall due to inverter problems, but also exposing many brake failure accidents.

Malfunction or resulting in a loss of motion

On April 7, the official website of the State Administration for Market Regulation showed that Tesla Motors (Beijing) Co., Ltd. and Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. filed a new recall plan with the State Administration for Market Regulation.

According to the plan, Tesla decided to recall some imported and domestically produced Model 3s from April 7, 2022, from January 11, 2019 to January 25, 2022, totaling 127,000 units, of which 34,000 model 3 cars were imported and 93,000 were domestic Model 3 vehicles.

It is reported that the main reason for this recall is that there may be small manufacturing differences in the power semiconductor components of the rear motor inverter of the vehicle within the scope of the recall, and the difference in component manufacturing after some vehicles are used for a period of time may lead to the failure of the rear inverter, resulting in the inverter not being able to control the current normally.

It is understood that this failure occurs when the vehicle is parked and will cause the vehicle to fail to start; When it occurs in the driving state of the vehicle, it will cause the vehicle to lose driving power, and in extreme cases, it may increase the risk of collision of the vehicle, and there is a safety hazard.

Tesla's solution is to upgrade the motor control software for vehicles covered by the recall free of charge through OTAs; For vehicles that cannot be recalled through OTA, the relevant users will be contacted through the service center to upgrade the motor control software for the vehicle to closely monitor the rear motor inverter of the vehicle, and timely replace the rear inverter with related failures free of charge to eliminate safety hazards.

Recalls are frequent

Before this recall, Tesla had just ushered in the best quarter in history. According to Tesla's official data, Tesla sold more than 310,000 vehicles in the first quarter, an increase of 68% year-on-year. But at the same time, since the end of 2021, Tesla has opened a number of recalls, and only in February this year, Tesla has launched three recalls.

Among them, on February 3, Tesla launched the largest recall ever, because of the problem with the seat belt tips of the relevant batch of vehicles, Tesla carried out safety recalls on more than 817,000 vehicles.

Although the recall of car companies is an important measure to eliminate vehicle safety hazards, the frequent recalls have shown to a certain extent that Tesla under the rapid expansion has great problems in quality control. Not only Tesla, but also, as the sales of new energy vehicles have increased significantly, the recall cases involving new energy vehicles are also gradually increasing.

According to the announcement of the State Administration for Market Regulation, in 2021, the mainland implemented a total of 59 recalls of new energy vehicles, involving 830,000 vehicles, accounting for 9.5% of the total number of recalls in the whole year; the number of new energy vehicle recalls and recalls increased by 31.1% and 75.9% over the previous year.

Previously, Musk had said that Tesla's growth rate this year will exceed 50%, and Musk also said that it would achieve a sales target of 20 million in 2030.

However, under the high growth rate of Tesla, the quality control problems brought by it cannot be ignored. In fact, on the eve of Tesla's recall, Tesla owners have reported on social platforms that the vehicle stalled during the drive, almost causing a traffic accident.

Re-exposure of brake failures

On April 6, on a car exchange platform, some car owners broke the news that their Model 3 had a sudden stop in driving.

The owner said that his Model 3 was driving at a speed of 100 yards in the tunnel, and suddenly the screen showed "the vehicle can not continue to drive, please stop immediately", but because other vehicles behind followed, the owner chose to step on the electric door deeply, but the car did not respond, and then the speed dropped rapidly.

The owner said that after the accident, he contacted Tesla sales and staff, was told that he had never seen such a situation, and was told that there was no solution after the sale. Regarding the follow-up of the accident, the owner said in the breaking news that the car has been sent to the Tesla after-sales treatment center for further processing.

On April 7, the owner said in the latest feedback that Tesla reflected that the main cause of the problem was the inverter failure, and had reached a preliminary refund intention with Tesla, and said that he did not dare to open Tesla again in the future. The failure of the inverter is also the main reason for the recall of this batch of cars.

In addition, in recent days, Tesla has exposed a number of brake failure accidents.

A few days ago, according to the Phoenix Network Automobile, a Model 3 in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, had an impact accident in the garage. The owner of the car said that he was driving in the basement, and without stepping on the accelerator, the speed did not decrease but increased. Later, he slammed on the brakes several times, but the vehicle was out of control. Afterwards, Ms. Lin asked Tesla for complete data related to the accident, and Tesla staff told him that they would not provide background data because there was no precedent.

On the other hand, other car owners reported to the media that a 5-year-old Tesla MDOEL X 100D had brake failure and the steering wheel could not be rotated on March 25. Tesla told the media that the accident was caused by the owner's speed being too fast, coupled with the fact that the parking lot floor was a wet epoxy floor, which extended the braking distance and had nothing to do with the quality of Tesla itself.

At present, in response to the above several incidents, Tesla has not made an official explanation.