According to the website of the State Administration for Market Regulation, since April 7, 2022, Tesla has recalled some imported and domesticAlly produced Model 3 electric vehicles with production dates from January 11, 2019 to January 25, 2022, with a total of 127785 vehicles (including 34,207 imported Model 3 cars and 93,578 domestic Model 3 vehicles).
Tesla Motors (Beijing) Co., Ltd. and Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. will upgrade the motor control software for vehicles within the scope of the recall free of charge through the vehicle remote upgrade (OTA) technology; for vehicles that cannot be recalled through the vehicle remote upgrade (OTA) technology, they will contact relevant users 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.
To put it simply, this Tesla recall will solve this hidden danger for car owners to remotely OTA, and users who cannot OTA will pay attention to it in real time through remote monitoring, and can be replaced immediately after finding faults. And if the current problem of the user, also default to replace the rear inverter immediately.
It is worth mentioning that this is already Tesla's second recall this year. In February this year, Tesla recalled a total of 20,000 Model 3 and Model Y due to problems with the positioning of the electronic expansion valve of the heat pump, which caused the heat pump compressor to stop working, and eventually led to the failure of the heating function in the car. And this recall, Tesla is also in the form of OTA.
Why doesn't Tesla replace the inverter uniformly to eliminate the aftermath?
Before the OTA recall matured, there was an unwritten rule in the industry that in the event of a large-scale recall, the vehicle in question was recalled in batches. The reason is that if a large-scale recall is carried out at the same time, not only will the dealer load not come, but even the manufacturer will not be able to provide such a large batch of parts at the same time. For example, in the previous Honda oil emulsification problem, Honda implemented multiple batches of recalls according to different models to avoid contradictions affecting word of mouth.
It's much easier to solve the problem by an OTA recall. According to relevant information, in 2021, there were 10 OTA recalls, involving 2.92 million defective vehicles. Enterprises through remote upgrade OTA to improve and optimize some of the functions or performance of the sold vehicles, save time, reduce costs, most of the OTA recalls in 3 months to complete 90%, car recall completion rate significantly increased.
In addition to significantly reducing labor time costs, it also significantly improves the recall rate. Taking Tesla as an example, users only need to click on the mobile phone to install immediately, just like "patching" to automatically fix car problems. In the age of software-defined cars, such practices may be becoming more common.
In addition to Tesla, Xiaopeng also had a similar incident in 2021, and recalled 13399 Xiaopeng G3 cars. But the difference is that Xiaopeng is free to help the owner replace the inverter. Although Tesla's choice of OTA is more flexible and convenient, it is not yet clear whether Tesla inverter is a hardware defect, and if it is a hardware defect, it remains to be seen whether simply upgrading OTA can fundamentally solve the problem.
However, from the recall notice is not difficult to see, Tesla for this batch of rear inverter quality or a certain confidence, it uses a word "partial", proving that there may be defective rear inverter is not much, even after the upgrade can not be solved, Tesla only needs to recall individual owners separately.
OTA upgrades are still a double-edged sword
It can also be seen from the market supervision website that the recall was carried out under the circumstance that the State Administration for Market Regulation launched a defect investigation. Affected by the investigation, Tesla Motors (Beijing) Co., Ltd. and Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. decided to take recall measures to eliminate potential safety hazards. Tesla Motors (Beijing) Co., Ltd. and Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. will notify the relevant owners in an effective manner, and the Tesla service center will also take the initiative to contact the relevant owners to arrange recall and repair.
Why only need to quietly complete the upgrade, need to be supervised by the State Administration for Market Regulation? As early as November 25, 2020, the General Office of the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the Notice on Further Strengthening the Supervision of Remote Upgrade (OTA) Technology Recalls of Automobiles, which clearly stated that if a producer adopts the OTA method to eliminate defects in automotive products and implement a recall, it should formulate a recall plan in accordance with the requirements of the Regulations and the Implementation Measures, file with the Quality Development Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation, and perform the main responsibility of the recall in accordance with the law. Therefore, if Tesla "sneaks" to upgrade the OTA, it is illegal, which is also the "red line" that Tesla does not dare to contact.
Xiao Lingyun, director of the Automotive Department of the Defective Product Management Center of the State Administration for Market Regulation, pointed out that "although we encourage enterprises to implement recalls in the form of OTAs, they cannot use OTAs to evade recalls or replace recalls." OTA is only a technical service method of recall, not equivalent to recall, and can not replace recall. Regardless of whether the company is using an OTA as a recall measure or a technical service activity, it must fulfill the obligation of filing. ”
Since the introduction of the first Model S in 2012, OTAs have been "lurking" in the automotive world for 10 years. However, at present, there are still many loopholes in supervision, and especially the ever-changing technical means will inevitably make supervision lag behind technology, and it is not simple to standardize management. Especially after the birth of the vehicle OTA (FOTA), it is possible to change the car control system, management system and performance performance at a deeper level, and even open up some new functions through the reserved hardware and through the later OTA. Obviously, these contents are all positions that have not been "touched" by the current regulatory regulations, which often leaves more space for merchants to avoid product problems.
How to grasp the double-edged sword of OTA must be a problem that the regulatory authorities need to solve through accelerated run-in with car companies. After all, the irreversibility of the intelligent trend is already a well-known thing, and it is impossible to sit idly by or adopt "one-size-fits-all" management. Therefore, brother cylinder suggests that a new independent department be set up to deal with this problem as the legalization of modified vehicles.
Write at the end
It is believed that OTA recalls will inevitably be a more common phenomenon in the future, and at present, the regulatory authorities have made framework provisions for the supervision of OTA in advance, during and after the event, but this is only based on the traditional automobile regulatory system in mainland China and "patches" the new loopholes in the newly emerging OTA laws. Obviously, the effectiveness of the patch has yet to be further tested by practice. For Tesla, whether this recall will affect the sales of Model 3 depends on whether the problem can be completely solved after the upgrade.