iSeeCars used NHTSA's list of recalls from 2014-2023 to learn which of today's cars are expected to have the most recalls over an expected 30-year lifespan.
They really should disaggregate recalls fixed with OTA updates from recalls that need a physical intervention.
Obviously Teslas almost always need an OTA update
No, they are cheap because Tesla built extremely efficient factories, assembly lines and car designs from the start. Try to look up the differences between Tesla and other manufacturers like VW, Toyota etc…
efficiency is when you have to recall your cars the most out of anybody because it’s more efficient to get them out the door and in to the suckers customers hands and then fix them later
Agreed. Although we would still need a measure the severity of these issues. An OTA update is more convenient than a physical recall, but it doesn’t change that the car drove with those issues until the problem was discovered and fixed.
So the more important question is whether the underlying problem was something trivial like a minor comfort feature not working as intended or something affecting the safety of the car.
Recall, an official recall, is a safety issue notice really. Its a legally defined thing in motor vehicle code. If manufacturer finds a defect, issue or feature affecting driving safety they have to notify safety authorities and get a recall issued. It doesn’t have to have anything to do with, whether the product goes back to service garage or not.
Important point: Not every Tesla OTA update triggers a NHTSA (or other national road safety agency) official recall. Tesla has updated their cars plenty without recall notice. Only safety related issues get recall issued along with the OTA update.
Thus it is meaningfully, that they have so many software related (and thus OTA fixed) safety recalls. Each of those times is Hey, NHTSA, gonna have to admit, our software has a safety oopsie on it. Here is the paperwork, could you please issue us the official recall campaign number. Yeah software team already developed fix for it, it’s all in the paperwork. We issue recall notice for drivers to check for the OTA to have gone through properly, that is all they need to do.
No maker wants to have safety recalls. It’s bad PR. Makers have been fined plenty times for failing to properly inform agencies. One of the most famous is the Takata airbags. Where Takata got fined millions by first knowing and not telling their airbags had extra spicy unstable propellant exploding way too violently. Plus after firstly admitting to it lying to for example NHTSA about the vast extend of the problem.
So it matters, that even on “just a software issue” recalls are issued. The main point is public is properly informed. Lot of time it’s resolved without great calamity. However this was exactly the lesson learned. Don’t let makers hide issued, make them admit immediately so public knows and can take appropriate mitigation, before someone gets hurt. Also makes makers fix things quickly. Otherwise other priorities might override, since What they don’t know can’t hurt our reputation, like this is marginal issue. We can take little more time with this. Oh it takes 6 months to design fix with that small team. No worries. After all, no one knows. We have time. Except during that slow roll someone bumps into that “marginal issue” and gets hurt. Having to publicly admit immediately puts fire under their hind quarters. “Whole design department, stop what you are doing. We have safety recall issue. It went just public. Everyday company sits without being able to say No worries, we have solution we take flack. This is now priority number 1. This must be resolved yesterday, says the company board. Whatever parts or equipment you need, order it. Whomever you need to call, call them.”
Legally they have to “declare” a recall, even when they can fix it with a couple of lines of code and an OTA. Recall doesn’t mean what you would expect it to me, it means “something the manufacturer needs to fix for safety reasons”.
Hence why 98% of Tesla recalls are OTA (not actual stat, I’d have to look it up but it’s definitely in the 90s)
100%, this number is skewed by the fact that tesla will basically “recall” for any minor issue because it’s a simple software update, I imagine a lot of companies try to avoid recalls as aggressively and for as long as possible because it’s a significantly bigger burden on them
I say this as someone who drives a Tesla but is still extremely judgemental of Tesla
Agreed. The concept of judging vehicle quality by number of recalls is severely flawed for this very reason. My Subaru Impreza has had a number of recalls for a variety of trivial things, but I’ve had only one actual issue with it in 65k miles and have spent relatively little on maintenance. Comparing that to the Audi A4 I had before this car which required maybe one recall in similar mileage but I was constantly fixing major items from leaks, broken drive related components, etc.
Neither had any motor related issues so far, aside from burning oil in the Audi. But by number of recalls? That Audi was great! But they also had a number of lawsuits filed in attempt to get them to actually recall the multitude of problems. The one that it actually had was the result of them losing such a suit, but so many years later it really didn’t matter.
So yeah, terrible metric to track. At this point, I’d rather see that the company has a dozen recalls on their vehicles than zero.
Edit: I should clarify. That being said, I do believe Toyota actually makes a solid car the first time. Boring, but quality is a huge focus for them. I’m still hesitant to trust recall counts though and I don’t think I’d trust Mercedes number as a valid quality metric.
that last edit you added is probably the worst part, because it takes away from how solid Toyota and others are because it ruins the entire metric, Toyota is likely crushing it, and entirely possible Tesla is actually really really bad, but without the RIGHT metrics we can’t actually draw any good conclusions, it’s not just bad for tesla but for the whole market
As everyone who watched Fight Club knows, it’s a simple calculation. If the costs of the recall exceed the cost for the expected lawsuits, they don’t do it.
An OTA update has essentially zero cost, so it’s even easier.
It should also be pointed out that the numbers in the articles are just projections covering the next 30 years.
I don’t know their methodology but I’m curious if they just took the current age and recall number and multiplied it out to 30 years. I don’t think this would be a fair assessment because a car would likely have all the kinks worked out long before it hits 30. Furthermore, I find it odd they projected out 30 years when the average age of a car on the road is 12.5 years.
They really should disaggregate recalls fixed with OTA updates from recalls that need a physical intervention. Obviously Teslas almost always need an OTA update
deleted by creator
That’s why Teslas are so cheap…right?
Lack of quality control
Cheap paint work
Cheap plastics panels all over the car
Underpaid workers
Etc
Keeps the price down
No, they are cheap because Tesla built extremely efficient factories, assembly lines and car designs from the start. Try to look up the differences between Tesla and other manufacturers like VW, Toyota etc…
I was joking, they aren’t cheap, they’re average priced for a subpar car. The Ford Maverick is $25,000, a whopping $10,000 cheaper than the Model 3.
Edit: I’m stupid, I thought the Ford Maverick was the EV model. It’s in fact the Ford Lightning, which starts at $50,000. Teslas are in fact cheap.
Why are you comparing a compact Tesla to Ford trucks? Teslas are definitely expensive. And the model 3 isn’t $35k, it’s more like $50k.
efficiency is when you have to recall your cars the most out of anybody because it’s more efficient to get them out the door and in to the
suckerscustomers hands and then fix them laterAgreed. Although we would still need a measure the severity of these issues. An OTA update is more convenient than a physical recall, but it doesn’t change that the car drove with those issues until the problem was discovered and fixed.
So the more important question is whether the underlying problem was something trivial like a minor comfort feature not working as intended or something affecting the safety of the car.
Doesn’t OTA fixes by definition mean no recall?
Recall, an official recall, is a safety issue notice really. Its a legally defined thing in motor vehicle code. If manufacturer finds a defect, issue or feature affecting driving safety they have to notify safety authorities and get a recall issued. It doesn’t have to have anything to do with, whether the product goes back to service garage or not.
Important point: Not every Tesla OTA update triggers a NHTSA (or other national road safety agency) official recall. Tesla has updated their cars plenty without recall notice. Only safety related issues get recall issued along with the OTA update.
Thus it is meaningfully, that they have so many software related (and thus OTA fixed) safety recalls. Each of those times is Hey, NHTSA, gonna have to admit, our software has a safety oopsie on it. Here is the paperwork, could you please issue us the official recall campaign number. Yeah software team already developed fix for it, it’s all in the paperwork. We issue recall notice for drivers to check for the OTA to have gone through properly, that is all they need to do.
No maker wants to have safety recalls. It’s bad PR. Makers have been fined plenty times for failing to properly inform agencies. One of the most famous is the Takata airbags. Where Takata got fined millions by first knowing and not telling their airbags had extra spicy unstable propellant exploding way too violently. Plus after firstly admitting to it lying to for example NHTSA about the vast extend of the problem.
So it matters, that even on “just a software issue” recalls are issued. The main point is public is properly informed. Lot of time it’s resolved without great calamity. However this was exactly the lesson learned. Don’t let makers hide issued, make them admit immediately so public knows and can take appropriate mitigation, before someone gets hurt. Also makes makers fix things quickly. Otherwise other priorities might override, since What they don’t know can’t hurt our reputation, like this is marginal issue. We can take little more time with this. Oh it takes 6 months to design fix with that small team. No worries. After all, no one knows. We have time. Except during that slow roll someone bumps into that “marginal issue” and gets hurt. Having to publicly admit immediately puts fire under their hind quarters. “Whole design department, stop what you are doing. We have safety recall issue. It went just public. Everyday company sits without being able to say No worries, we have solution we take flack. This is now priority number 1. This must be resolved yesterday, says the company board. Whatever parts or equipment you need, order it. Whomever you need to call, call them.”
No, they are for some reasons called recalls. Didn’t Tesla recall their entire fleet this spring? It was solved by OTA updates.
Why recall them if the issue can be taken care of over the air? That IS what OTA stands for, right?
Legally they have to “declare” a recall, even when they can fix it with a couple of lines of code and an OTA. Recall doesn’t mean what you would expect it to me, it means “something the manufacturer needs to fix for safety reasons”.
Hence why 98% of Tesla recalls are OTA (not actual stat, I’d have to look it up but it’s definitely in the 90s)
100%, this number is skewed by the fact that tesla will basically “recall” for any minor issue because it’s a simple software update, I imagine a lot of companies try to avoid recalls as aggressively and for as long as possible because it’s a significantly bigger burden on them
I say this as someone who drives a Tesla but is still extremely judgemental of Tesla
Agreed. The concept of judging vehicle quality by number of recalls is severely flawed for this very reason. My Subaru Impreza has had a number of recalls for a variety of trivial things, but I’ve had only one actual issue with it in 65k miles and have spent relatively little on maintenance. Comparing that to the Audi A4 I had before this car which required maybe one recall in similar mileage but I was constantly fixing major items from leaks, broken drive related components, etc.
Neither had any motor related issues so far, aside from burning oil in the Audi. But by number of recalls? That Audi was great! But they also had a number of lawsuits filed in attempt to get them to actually recall the multitude of problems. The one that it actually had was the result of them losing such a suit, but so many years later it really didn’t matter.
So yeah, terrible metric to track. At this point, I’d rather see that the company has a dozen recalls on their vehicles than zero.
Edit: I should clarify. That being said, I do believe Toyota actually makes a solid car the first time. Boring, but quality is a huge focus for them. I’m still hesitant to trust recall counts though and I don’t think I’d trust Mercedes number as a valid quality metric.
deleted by creator
that last edit you added is probably the worst part, because it takes away from how solid Toyota and others are because it ruins the entire metric, Toyota is likely crushing it, and entirely possible Tesla is actually really really bad, but without the RIGHT metrics we can’t actually draw any good conclusions, it’s not just bad for tesla but for the whole market
As everyone who watched Fight Club knows, it’s a simple calculation. If the costs of the recall exceed the cost for the expected lawsuits, they don’t do it.
An OTA update has essentially zero cost, so it’s even easier.
It should also be pointed out that the numbers in the articles are just projections covering the next 30 years.
I don’t know their methodology but I’m curious if they just took the current age and recall number and multiplied it out to 30 years. I don’t think this would be a fair assessment because a car would likely have all the kinks worked out long before it hits 30. Furthermore, I find it odd they projected out 30 years when the average age of a car on the road is 12.5 years.