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Tesla issues its largest recall ever over faulty Model S steering
- ExcelSaga 9y agoIs this going to effect them trying to shift workers from the S line to the 3 assembly line? Or is this just a matter of maintenance services doing the replacement? At the very least, this is the last kind of news they need, for sales, PR, and internal morale.
- btian 9y agoThe fix will be done at local service centers. So I don't see how this will affect production at Nevada and Fremont.
- gmueckl 9y agoGuessing from the article, the fix is replacing a few bolts with more corrosion resistant ones. The labor around that should mostly be about reaching the parts in question and maybe some minor recalibration on the steering column.
- bbarn 9y agoI don't know. Good-guy recalls on things that are largely unimportant sometimes can end up creating good will and customer loyalty. The part in place seems to only matter in very specific scenarios and is largely an inconvenience, not a safety risk.
- Pfhreak 9y agoI was told the upgrade would take ~1 hour in a local service center.
- GirlsCanCode 9y agoNo. However, it may affect them.
- ucaetano 9y ago"Tesla said it has only seen this problem occur in "very cold climates" where road salts are commonly used." Ah, the usual "designed in the Bay Area" issue...
- tarboreus 9y agoI think about DitBA whenever Siri says "Brrr!" to 39 F weather. Put on a sweater, Siri.
- ethbro 9y ago"I'm sorry, I don't understand 'sweater'."
- annerajb 9y agoDoes not only affect Tesla the part is made by Bosch and also affects daimler.
- jshaqaw 9y agoSeriously -like my Beats Studio wireless which turn off in NYC winter!
- raquo 9y agoNot really, a lot of other manufacturers had recalls for various parts and even frames in excessive salt conditions. It's just that such challenging environments trigger the problems first.
- balupton 9y agoGetting a 404 not found. Perhaps dodgy reporting?
- frgtpsswrdlame 9y agoIt's working for me, here's a mirror though: https://outline.com/m8mpV4 https://outline.com/m8mpV4 Here's some other sources: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/29/tesla-recalls-123000-model-s-cars-over-potential-power-steering-failure-reports.html https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/29/tesla-recalls-123000-model-s... https://www.wsj.com/articles/tesla-recalls-123-000-model-s-cars-over-bolt-issue-1522361482 https://www.wsj.com/articles/tesla-recalls-123-000-model-s-c... http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/29/technology/business/tesla-model-s-recall/index.html http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/29/technology/business/tesla-mo...
- what_ever 9y agoI still see it.
- SriniK 9y agoTo be specific "The automaker said 123,000 Model S vehicles built before April 2016"
- dmix 9y agoThat's quite a minor recall compared to almost any typical recalls in recent history is it not? Although that's not to say it isn't still a serious issue for a smaller firm like Tesla.
- cctt23 9y agoMost automakers sell millions and millions of units in a short period of time, but Tesla does not. I’d be more interested to see what percentage of Tesla’s have been subject to recalls vs the total shipped, and compare that to a similar mainstream metric.
- colejohnson66 9y ago123,000 of 300,000 is just above 40%
- cctt23 9y agoI thought that seemed really high, so I did a little looking and horrifically it’s actually a bit lower than the industry average of 46%! Some of that is skewed by VW recalling more cars in a year than it sells in a year, but still... Wow. http://m.wardsauto.com/industry/best-and-worst-automaker-recall-rates http://m.wardsauto.com/industry/best-and-worst-automaker-rec...
- maxerickson 9y agoYeah it's not a big recall in the scheme of things but it is a major percentage of the total production of the Model S (wikipedia says they were up to 212,000 at end of 2017). GM's big ignition switch recall was 800,000, Firestone recalled the tires for millions vehicles back around 2000.
- 9y ago
- Proven 9y agoExcellent! Another step closer to bankruptcy! The sooner that leach on the face of taxpayers is removed, the better.
- refurb 9y agoUnlike the quality issues with the Model 3 that continue, this is no big deal. It happens to other manufacturers all the time. Seems like a quick fix.
- jperras 9y agoWhile disappointing and costly for Tesla, thankfully a power steering failure isn't typically a big deal, safety-wise. If you've never driven a vehicle without power steering: it's marginally harder to turn the wheel, which really only affects you in parking lots and making turns from a dead stop (as is mentioned in the article).
- inferiorhuman 9y agoIt's a bigger issue on an ICE car where leaking power steering fluid can leak or spray onto hot engine components.
- throwahey 9y agoA sudden loss of power steering can be very dangerous. Imagine you are on the inside left turning lane, an unexpected power steering failure could cause you to drive into the vehicle turning on the outside lane because your turning radius is now far wider.
- gdrulia 9y agoOne has to remember that cars that were designed to be without power steering usually has 5 turns of the wheel from one side to the other, while cars with power steering only has 3, again usually. So a car that was designed to have power steering and looses it, is not really comparable to cars designed to be without one, and is a real pain to drive, especially in the city.
- kw71 9y agoI have also been told that the steering column for power steering is not as strong because the design loads are lower.
- jacquesm 9y agoIt doesn't matter whether it is a servo or a human that turns the shaft, the design loads are a function of the weight of the car and the front/rear weight distribution as well as of whether or not the front wheels are driven or idlers.
- throwaway84742 9y agoI’m actually mostly surprised there are 123k model S cars manufactured before 2016. Those cars are $70-80k each on average. That’s a lot of revenue.
- kingkongjaffa 9y agoHow did they get this many people: Number of employees 37,543 (2017) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla,_Inc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla,_Inc.]
- throwaway84742 9y agoWell, they do make a lot of what goes into the car in-house. And they design it in house, too.
- myrandomcomment 9y agoNothing to see here. Stuff like this happens all the time, would not even be on HN if it did not have the world Tesla in it.
- kumarski 9y agoTesla is 15 years old. Tesla has produced 300K cars. Tesla just recalled 123K cars.
- model_m_warrior 9y agoZero profit. This is good for bitcoin.
- Proven 9y agoHaha, bankruptcy in late 2018... Nice scam, Elon.
- mirceal 9y agoHow would a self driving car be impacted by a failure like this? Can the onboard computer still drive the car (and has a sense there’s something wrong w/ the steering) or is it just dead in the water?