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Comment by citizenkeen | Hacker News Reader

Oh, so this is an actual recall and not just a software update.

> Oh, so this is an actual recall and not just a software update.

In an era of software-defined vehicles, the difference is one of convenience, not impact/consequence. Not really worth pointing out, unless you're a service department telling owners how to plan their week.

To the contrary, the fact that this is a physical recall is perhaps the most interesting and noteworthy thing about it.

Are you hodling TSLA and concerned about the costs? I could see that being interesting...

No, but we own one of their vehicles and in years have never experienced a recall that involved physically recalling the vehicle. This one doesn't apply to us, but if it did, that alone would immediately make it stand out compared to every other recall we've experienced with the product (which have never had any effect on us whatsoever).

> software-defined vehicles

I threw up in my mouth a little upon reading this phrase. Dark times.

That’s nonsensical, IMO. Software updates should not be considered recalls at all. Unless it’s a critical safety issue that makes the vehicle unusable.

That's exactly what recalls are: important safety issues that need to be fixed, regardless of whether the fix involves hardware or software.

Past Tesla recalls addressed by OTA updates include fixes for braking, steering, headlights, tire pressure monitoring, collision avoidance, etc...

https://www.cars.com/research/tesla/recalls/

fair point

Awesome. Let's do that, right after we stop calling "place this sticker, which contains a warning about materials in the seatbelt tensioner system, on page 234 of your owner's manual" a recall, too.

The whining about this is old.

The thing is, to most people, "recall" is a strong word that carries major implications.

Yeah, sure, you might be smart enough to understand that the word has a legal definition, and sometimes a recall is an absolute nothingburger. For example, Tesla once had to do a recall because some warning icons on the screen were legally deemed to be a couple pixels too small. Yet, when news outlets announce "Tesla recalls every Model 3 ever made", it's TECHNICALLY true, but will be highly misleading to the general population who now thinks every Model 3 has to be returned.

EDIT: Also, FWIW, even when a recall DOES require a physical change of the car, Tesla's mobile service can often come to you to do it. You don't need to take it to a service center.

I would say a hard recall rather than a soft recall (which technically is still an actual recall).

They’ve had multiple non-software recalls

I wonder how they compare to the rest of the auto manufacturers, in this regard.

According to cars.com, the cybertruck has had 8 safety recalls, while the 2024 Ford F-150 Lightning has had 2.

According to the NHTSA, Ford has had 126 recalls this year and the next most is Chrysler with 40. Tesla has 9. https://datahub.transportation.gov/stories/s/NHTSA-Recalls-b...

Is this even a fair comparison when Ford and Chrysler offer a lot more models than Tesla does?

It’s not. For example, Saab has had 0 recalls.

Saab also currently produces 0 models.

That’s the point.

Fords recall numbers have skyrocketed in recent years. So Fords real comparison to its previous self, 2015 they had 68. Why isn’t Fords roughly doubling of recalls news?

>Why isn’t Fords roughly doubling of recalls news?

Oh, I don't know, maybe because Tesla is bigger than the rest of the entire industry combined?

Besides, safety recalls are what matters. I get lots of small qualtiy-related recalls that are so minor I don't even bother getting them done. Meanwhile, Tesla does what it can to avoid quality recalls, because for a while it was a marketing blurb for them.

By units sold per year Tesla is the 15th biggest car company. Ford is 6th. (This is with Hyundai and Kia counted as the same).

By revenue from those sales rather than units, Tesla is 12th. Ford is 6th.

It's reasonably well known that Ford has had a very bad year for recalls; it's definitely made the rounds in the auto world, and breaks through to the mainstream news from time to time.

https://www.motortrend.com/news/2024-2026-ford-ranger-recall...

https://247wallst.com/investing/2025/10/17/ford-recall-recor...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/cars/recalls/2025/09/24/ford-...

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/ford-issues-more-saf...

If you want to compare, you need to pick a specific model year, and the same number of models. Ford has 38 current models, Tesla has has 5.

But how many of those Tesla “recalls” were OTA software updates?

A "recall" means that a safety defect or a failure to meet federal standards has been identified in a vehicle and the manufacturer is required to fix it free.

It is a recall no matter how the manufacture decides to implement the fix. If they can do it OTA, great. That will be more convenient for most owners.

The context of this thread is non-software recalls.

Here's some data: https://datahub.transportation.gov/stories/s/NHTSA-Recalls-b...

If you're looking at the pie chart, Tesla is not shown, but has had 9 in whatever time period and selection criteria is used.

> I wonder how they compare to the rest of the auto manufacturers, in this regard.

Most recalls in 2024: Chrysler (72), Ford (67), BMW (36), GM (34), Hyundai (25), Mercedes-Benz (28)

Least: Tesla (16), Mazda (6), Rivian (8), Nissan (18), Toyota (16), Porsche (13)

Another way to look at it is number of people impacted, which changes the "leaderboard". In order of most people to least: Tesla, Chrysler, Ford, Honda, GM, BMW, Kia, Toyota,.... Porsche. Obviously, conflating factor is popularity of brand.

Source: https://brclegal.com/us-car-recall-statistics/

Yeah Tesla is around 4% US marketshare, the largest three players are up to 17%

And Tesla have basically two models, that's probably why Ford have more recalls but less affected people.

Tesla has many small tweaks on their cars from year-to-year and even less. It's not as bad as it used to be (I haven't heard of any plywood in use inside the componentry).

rather than the number people impacted, perhaps the most interesting would be the percentage/ratio of people impacted among the ones who got the car?

Interesting. How many physical repair facilities does Tesla have? I can see this creating quite a backlog.

Well, this is a relatively small recall in automotive terms, so certainly enough to handle this.

I came here to check this. I find it extremely annoying how often we hear about "massive recalls" that are really just OTA updates.

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