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Comment by ziddoap | Hacker News Reader

>'Recall' is a really alarmist word as well

That's literally what the process is called though?

>A recall is issued when a manufacturer or NHTSA determines that a vehicle, equipment, car seat, or tire creates an unreasonable safety risk or fails to meet minimum safety standards. [1]

In this case, a piece of equipment on these Ferraris fails to meet a minimum standard, so a recall is issued. Where your association of recall = scrap the car comes from, I don't know, but issuing a recall is pretty damn standard, happens all the time, and has no bearing on what the fix for the recalled equipment/car/etc. might be.

[1] https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls

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I don’t know why but:

“Ferrari issues recall notice to replace brake fluid cap in nearly all cars sold since 2005”

Sounds way different than:

“Almost every Ferrari sold since 2005 is being recalled”

The first one sounds like a common occurrence in the car industry. The second one sounds like a salmonella outbreak in frozen peas that you need to throw away the bag or return it to the store.

I agree that those have different tones, absolutely, and the one is much more extreme. I don't put that difference down to the word "recall" though, and I don't think "recall" is an alarmist word, as the parent does.

The latter sounds like a clickbait headline.

Err..wait, it IS a clickbait headline.

> That's literally what the process is called though?

I didn't say it wasn't - I said it sounds a bit more alarming than it actually is. The vehicle doesn't have to go anywhere, it just has to pop into the service garage quickly.

I guess I'm just not understanding how the process name, which has been the process name for a long time, is "alarmist". The way you phrased it made me think you have some alternate word to use for the process of recall which is less "alarmist".

> I guess I'm just not understanding how the process name, which has been the process name for a long time, is "alarmist".

It sounds more alarming than is the case in practice. They is literally no 'recall' - you just pop in - so the word isn't even accurate if you read it literally. I'm not sure how to explain it beyond that?

The problem with using one word, "recall", for a massive range of issues, is that people mistake really small issues to be more in the middle of the range.

In this case the issue is tiny, the fix is tiny. It's not like a recall where a decent number of people will die from exploding gas tanks, which also falls under the word "recall".

Maybe if they added a severity, even a simple 1-5, like computer people use for vulnerabilities, or the military uses for levels of alert, or we use for storms, and so on, this would not happen.

But using the correct word can be alarmist if articles, headlines, or pundits use it to scare beliefs into the middle of the possible range when it's at the low end.

I’m most familiar with a “recall” in the food industry, where the contaminated food is not salvageable. So my first impression upon reading the headline was that Ferrari was going to have to scrap or replace all cars made since 2005. Obviously that’s wrong, after reading the article.

But I think the car industry is an exception in that it makes sense to fix the effected product. Most other products that are recalled (food, or the Galaxy Note 7, or other gadgets, for example), are not quickly fixed. In those industries (most other than automotive) a “recall” means throwing away potentially huge amounts of product.

Edit: To clarify, I’m saying the title could be easily misunderstood. I understand that it is correct.

The dictionary defines recall as "officially order (someone) to return to a place".

> it just has to pop into the service garage

In other words, a recall. I don't see what's alarming about this. An inconvenience at best, but chances are that you'll pop in for routine service at some point anyway.

I think it's more a byproduct of poor human perception of "large" numbers.

"Toyota recalls 120,000 vehicles for minor problem XYZ!"

zomg, 120k, that's a huge number, what a HORRIBLE thing. Boy they really screwed something up!

Never mind the fact that this may span a production run of 4.7 Million vehicles over 8 years. This is less then 3% of customers affected because they all happened to use the same generic part for common function (e.g. a simple brake fluid reservoir cap).

This sort of thinking has caused the word "recall" to get a bad reputation. Worse so when it's a "safety recall" which generally is the same thing, but actually tied to a part like a seatbelt, airbag, etc. Combine the negative connotations with the word safety and it just amplifies the unwarranted panic level.

I guess I still don't see what is alarming about needing to go back to the dealership to have something fixed/replaced, even if the number of people needing to do is high. Short of them making a service call to your place (where the necessary tools may not be available), what's the alternative?

Yes, they are aware that is the official name of the process. They’re criticizing the connotations it elicits.

I guess I'm questioning where the connotation comes from.

I've never considered "recall" to be alarmist. It's just a process. I look at the recall notice, see what I have to do, and go from there. 95% of recalls I've been involved in are similar to this one: go to the shop, replace a $50 part, go on with my day.

I just find it weird that the name of a mundane process is "alarmist". Different exposure, I guess.

To a lot of consumers, "recall" implies the product they bought is unsafe and will end up hurting them or causing significant property damage. Think contaminated foods, car parts catching fire, faulty ignition switches causing vehicle crashes, airbag inflator shrapnel issues, etc.

So when they hear $AUTOMAKER is issuing a big recall, to a lot of people it means there's something massively unsafe about those cars. Even though sometimes a recall is just replacing a cap that doesn't seal as well as it should, or an exhaust filter canister not performing as it should, or other less critical recall reasons.

I would say "your brakes might fail because of a design error" is a pretty severe safety issue.

Absolutely, I agree.

It's an alarmist headline rather than alarmist word. The brake fluid reservoir cap is being recalled rather than the car.

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