U.S. asks Tesla to recall 158,000 vehicles for touchscreen failures

GoGoGadgetMachE

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U.S. asks Tesla to recall 158,000 vehicles for touchscreen failures | Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Wednesday asked Tesla Inc to recall 158,000 Model S and Model X vehicles over media control unit (MCU) failures that could pose safety risks by leading to touchscreen displays not working.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment but it must respond to NHTSA by Jan. 27. If it does not agree it must provide the agency “with a full explanation of its decision.”

It is unusual for the agency to formally demand a recall. Automakers typically voluntarily agree to a recall if sought in discussions by regulators.


The agency said it sought the recall after considering “Tesla’s technical briefing presentation ... and evaluated Tesla’s assertions.”

NHTSA added that “during our review of the data, Tesla provided confirmation that all units will inevitably fail given the memory device’s finite storage capacity.”

NHTSA said other automakers have issued numerous recalls for similar safety issues, the agency told Tesla, including a detailed list of prior callbacks.




The agency said touchscreen failures pose significant safety issues, including the loss of rearview/backup camera images. It noted nine prior recalls by other automakers for similar problems.

The Tesla vehicles that lose touchscreen use may see driver assistance Autopilot system and turn signal functionality impacted due to potential loss of audible chimes, driver sensing, and alerts associated with these vehicle functions, NHTSA said. It added that loss of alerts tied to systems like Autopilot “increases the risk of a crash occurring because drivers may be unaware of system malfunctions.”

Touchscreen failures result in drivers being unable to use windshield defogging and defrosting systems that “may decrease the driver’s visibility in inclement weather, increasing the risk of crash.”

NHTSA noted that “Tesla has implemented several over-the-air updates in an attempt to mitigate some of the issues ... but tentatively believes these updates are procedurally and substantively insufficient.” It noted that under law “vehicle manufacturers are required to conduct recalls to remedy safety-related defects.”

NHTSA said in November it reviewed 12,523 claims and complaints about the issue, which would impact roughly 8% of the vehicles under investigation.

Many complaints said Tesla requires owners to pay to replace the unit once warranties expire.

Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler and Matthew Lewis
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GoGoGadgetMachE

GoGoGadgetMachE

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a few things here:
  • 100% a basic embedded system design failure. For all the talk around Tesla being good at software and being modern and so on, this is an idiotic failure on their part of the highest order. The one thing they are supposedly really good at, they actually... aren't good at.
  • As the story said, this is a recall demand, not a voluntary recall. That's a big, big deal. This is basically the regulatory agency saying "stop f*cking around and fix your broken crap, now!"
  • OTA is not saving their ass here.
  • This story at least doesn't even mention that the touchscreen failure takes the dash as well (this is S and X so there is a dash).
 

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Well, doing a little back of the napkin math - Tesla sold their 1 millionth car on march 10th, 2020. For 2020 they sold shy of 500k, so we'll ballpark the number of Tesla's ever sold at around 1.3 million cars. The government just compelled them to recall roughly 1 in 8 of all the cars they've ever sold.

And Tesla had to be compelled to recall because they played games by trying to change the warranty after the cars were sold.
 


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The government just compelled them to recall roughly 1 in 8 of all the cars they've ever sold.
And without a big dealer network, how do you repair 150,000+ cars in a timely manner?
 

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Well, doing a little back of the napkin math - Tesla sold their 1 millionth car on march 10th, 2020. For 2020 they sold shy of 500k, so we'll ballpark the number of Tesla's ever sold at around 1.3 million cars. The government just compelled them to recall roughly 1 in 8 of all the cars they've ever sold.

And Tesla had to be compelled to recall because they played games by trying to change the warranty after the cars were sold.
I think this will soon be followed in rest of the world. So the number should be roughly double the 159000 quoted by NHTSA.

30% of the cars failed and 100% will eventually fail and still no recall? I wish NHTSA also slapped a huge fine to go with this for a rogue company that avoids safety recalls and keeps arguing with the regulator to buy time,.
 

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Saw this on Twitter :oops:...
159,000 Ă· 120 = 1,325 Model S/X fixes needed per Tesla Service Center in the US.
 
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GoGoGadgetMachE

GoGoGadgetMachE

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And without a big dealer network, how do you repair 150,000+ cars in a timely manner?
they have Service Centers that are sufficiently located and will be able to handle this no problem. They have no issues with scheduling at those or with having those hours and hours from the customer. Just ask the Stans.
 
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GoGoGadgetMachE

GoGoGadgetMachE

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I think this will soon be followed in rest of the world. So the number should be roughly double the 159000 quoted by NHTSA.

30% of the cars failed and 100% will eventually fail and still no recall? I wish NHTSA also slapped a huge fine to go with this for a rogue company that avoids safety recalls and keeps arguing with the regulator to buy time,.
this is a somewhat political statement: I believe this is a case where (yet again) technology has moved faster than the regulators are able to deal with the changes in the technology. NHTSA is not able to deal with the likes of Tesla at this time.
 

jhalkias

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Well, doing a little back of the napkin math - Tesla sold their 1 millionth car on march 10th, 2020. For 2020 they sold shy of 500k, so we'll ballpark the number of Tesla's ever sold at around 1.3 million cars. The government just compelled them to recall roughly 1 in 8 of all the cars they've ever sold.

And Tesla had to be compelled to recall because they played games by trying to change the warranty after the cars were sold.
Another feature of that superior Tesla experience.
 

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The problem with the recall is this. Both Tesla and NHTSA know that it will fail no matter what. A lot of heat this week on tesla not going ahead and fixing it and letting it drag on. It is not a quick fix and will be a big drain on tesla repair shops.
The other thing is the glue from the sides of the screen running and causing yellowing around each screen also. Man, I wouldn't like to look at that and see that each day.

Like RonCat, myself, and others have said. Once you get to the 5 years to 10-year ownership. Then you see how the vehicles really hold up.

With the model y having to fix the heat pump on each one eventually also. Pretty big deal and not the way tesla wants to start of 2021.
 

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As the story said, this is a recall demand, not a voluntary recall. That's a big, big deal. This is basically the regulatory agency saying "stop f*cking around and fix your broken crap, now!"
The way I read it: It's a recall request, not an involuntary recall. If Tesla complies, it would be a voluntary recall. If they refuse, it may (or may not) become an involuntary recall on a future date.

Did I understand it wrong?
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