A recall protects a company like Tesla from lawsuits. In this case, someone could have determined that the reason their car crashed was because an icon wasn't

A recall protects a company like Tesla from lawsuits. In this case, someone could have determined that the reason their car crashed was because an icon wasn't big enough, discovered that Tesla wasn't adhering to safety standards, and filed a pretty solid lawsuit. The recall says "look, we found a problem, we'll fix it, and now that we made a reasonable effort to let everyone know, we're off the hook and protected by the government for having done so officially."