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Comment by tsgagnon | Hacker News Reader

Why? It involves a safety system! That needs to be tracked publicly and updated! Nothing more than an OTA - does not mean much when everything is fly by wire and a bug could mean your car does not stop accelerating or something.

True, but by announcing things in this fashion it is making Tesla look bad. Regulations really need to be updated so that car makers can hide this type of problem from customers as easily as possible. Especially when it comes to Tesla, regulators really need to bend over backwards to prevent articles from being written that could be interpreted in a negative way.

Or are people concerned about the word "recall" for a different reason?

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> announcing things in this fashion it is making Tesla look bad.

I almost didn't catch the sarcasm of this comment, but there are other comments in this thread that are saying basically the same thing, but actually meaning it. It defies logic.

People seem to think that the government is being mean, and singling out Tesla, and being nasty using the word "recall." A recall is a legal process. The word means something very specific, and when a company issues a recall, they do so because they don't want to be sued.

It's almost like complaining about the word "divorce" or "audit" or "deposition" or other similar words that describe a legal process. The words used mean something specific. Tesla is conducting a legal process, and there's a very specific word for that process, and it means something. It's a recall.

> True, but by announcing things in this fashion it is making Tesla look bad.

They rolled out software with critical safety issues. They have to be called out.

There is no critical safety issue, the driver is always in control of the vehicle.

Are you saying it's a critical safety issue to depend on a human driver? The same as in every vehicle on the road?

Regulators dont care about the perception of a recall, they care about the safety of the consumers and more importantly the general public who have not signed up for Teslas beta program.

I don't think the other people that replied picked up on your sarcasm.

Musk stans poison discussion so thoroughly that it becomes impossible for people do differentiate between Paul Verhoeven levels of sarcasm, and the ernestly held opinions of his fan club.

It's a great example of Poe's law at work. Tesla apologists are just that absurd when it comes to holding the company to a double standard about anything that could make them look bad.

> so that car makers can hide this type of problem from customers as easily as possible

What. No! At an absolute minimum, I want to be aware of any changes to the thing in my life most likely to kill me. Maybe we could use a better term like "Software Fuckup Remediation" or "Holy Shit How Did We Not Get The Brakes Right".

If there were a word for "we would do anything we could possibly do, legally or otherwise, and more if we knew how, to avoid having to spend a second or a penny trying to fix the thing we knew was broken when we sold it to you, but the government is looking at us funny and we might get sued if we don't, so we'll grudgingly do it,", it'd probably be "recall."

> it is making Tesla look bad

Maybe Tesla should stop doing things that result in it receiving poor publicity? just a thought

Tesla should continue doing what's best to accomplish the company mission and making vehicles safer by improving automation.

Why should a companies actions be dictated by PR and media news cycles?

Musk was complaining, not me!

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