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Tesla Recalls Almost 13,000 EVs over Risk of Battery Power Loss
- zerosizedweasle 1y agohttps://archive.ph/RDhGj https://archive.ph/RDhGj
- citizenkeen 1y agoOh, so this is an actual recall and not just a software update.
- thejazzman 1y agoThey’ve had multiple non-software recalls
- nomel 1y agoI wonder how they compare to the rest of the auto manufacturers, in this regard.
- thesuitonym 1y agoAccording to cars.com, the cybertruck has had 8 safety recalls, while the 2024 Ford F-150 Lightning has had 2.
- arrozconcosas 1y agoAccording 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-by-Manufacturer/38mw-dp8u/ https://datahub.transportation.gov/stories/s/NHTSA-Recalls-b...
- dncornholio 1y agoIs this even a fair comparison when Ford and Chrysler offer a lot more models than Tesla does?
- _aavaa_ 1y agoIt’s not. For example, Saab has had 0 recalls.
- codingdave 1y agoSaab also currently produces 0 models.
- _aavaa_ 1y agoThat’s the point.
- briandw 1y agoFords 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?
- itsoktocry 1y ago>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.
- tzs 1y agoBy 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.
- Rover222 1y agoBut how many of those Tesla “recalls” were OTA software updates?
- tzs 1y agoA "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.
- nomel 1y agoThe context of this thread is non-software recalls.
- 3D30497420 1y agoHere's some data: https://datahub.transportation.gov/stories/s/NHTSA-Recalls-by-Manufacturer/38mw-dp8u/ 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.
- andsoitis 1y ago> 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/ https://brclegal.com/us-car-recall-statistics/
- 1121redblackgo 1y agoYeah Tesla is around 4% US marketshare, the largest three players are up to 17%
- orwin 1y agoAnd Tesla have basically two models, that's probably why Ford have more recalls but less affected people.
- dexterdog 1y agoTesla 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).
- riffraff 1y agorather than the number people impacted, perhaps the most interesting would be the percentage/ratio of people impacted among the ones who got the car?
- squigz 1y agoI came here to check this. I find it extremely annoying how often we hear about "massive recalls" that are really just OTA updates.
- tromp 1y agoI would say a hard recall rather than a soft recall (which technically is still an actual recall).
- pengaru 1y ago> 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.
- nilkn 1y agoTo the contrary, the fact that this is a physical recall is perhaps the most interesting and noteworthy thing about it.
- pengaru 1y agoAre you hodling TSLA and concerned about the costs? I could see that being interesting...
- nilkn 1y agoNo, 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).
- AlexandrB 1y ago> software-defined vehicles I threw up in my mouth a little upon reading this phrase. Dark times.
- Rover222 1y agoThat’s nonsensical, IMO. Software updates should not be considered recalls at all. Unless it’s a critical safety issue that makes the vehicle unusable.
- Reason077 1y agoThat'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/ https://www.cars.com/research/tesla/recalls/
- SoftTalker 1y agoInteresting. How many physical repair facilities does Tesla have? I can see this creating quite a backlog.
- rconti 1y agoWell, this is a relatively small recall in automotive terms, so certainly enough to handle this.
- bob1029 1y agoWhat happens in the edge case of losing HV during heavy braking on the freeway? Does the brake booster still function independently of the HV system, or is the driver going to have to push the pedal a lot harder?
- ferongr 1y agoThe vacuum reservoir of the brake booster in cars with vacuum servo brakes (whether vacuum is generated by the engine or an electric pump is irrelevant) stores enough energy for 3-4 full applications of the brakes.
- avianlyric 1y agoEV don’t use vacuum break booster systems anymore. There are much better and more efficient fully electric break booster systems out there which make a lot more sense. Vacuum break boosters only make sense for ICE vehicles where you already have an existing air pump (the actual engine) providing free “vacuum”, they don’t make sense in EVs where you need to an extra dedicated motor to produce vacuum, to power a vacuum booster system, to boost the breaks. Much better off just using the extra electric motor to directly boost breaks, without the whole vacuum system as a middle man. Early EVs use vacuum break boosters, but only because they were the only economical solution, given there was little demand for electric break booster systems. After all a vacuum system is cheaper, if you have a free “vacuum source”. But for last decade or so there’s been enough EVs manufactured that electric break booster systems are now more economical for EVs. To answer GP question, the an electric break booster system is almost certainly powered off the low voltage (12V) accessory system, not the high voltage system. So a high voltage disconnect won’t prevent the break booster from working, assuming the LV battery is working correctly.
- bryanlarsen 1y agoThat's not reassuring. This recall is the exception. The low voltage 12V battery has been far more unreliable in EV's from all brands than the high voltage battery has been. Is an EV like an ICE in that the 12V bus has power while the car is running even if the 12V battery is dead? In an ICE the alternator puts 13.5 volts onto the 12V bus so a dead battery will prevent a car from starting but it will stay running on a dead battery if boosted to start. I imagine an EV does something similar but I don't know.
- discordance 1y ago"The recall population includes certain Model Year (“MY”) 2025 Model 3 vehicles manufactured between March 8, 2025, and August 12, 2025, and MY 2026 Model Y vehicles manufactured between March 15, 2025, and August 15, 2025, that are equipped with a battery pack contactor manufactured with InTiCa solenoid." https://electrek.co/2025/10/22/tesla-recalls-recent-model-3-y-over-battery-pack-defect/ https://electrek.co/2025/10/22/tesla-recalls-recent-model-3-...
- pinkmuffinere 1y agoI don't know much about battery packs -- what's the significance of this particular quote?
- Meegul 1y agoThe battery pack contactor is one of the only, if not actually the only, moving pieces in a battery pack. A solenoid connects or disconnects the battery pack from the rest of the car's electronics. In this case, it seems to fail in the open state, meaning the battery was not able to power the car. Either there was simply a bad production batch of these particular solenoids or a change in supplier for this part. Model Ys still have a separate, standard 12V battery that power many of the car's non-drivetrain related parts. So in this case, the battery pack contactor failing open would cause the car to lose the ability to drive, but the doors/windows/lights/screen would all still likely be working.
- reaperducer 1y agoone of the only, if not actually the only, Pet peeve: The phrase is "one of the few," not "one of the only." If something is "only," it can't be "one of" something.
- Meegul 1y agoHa, good catch. I stared at that sentence for a few too many minutes as I wrote it because I knew it just didn't sound right.
- daveguy 1y agoIs this the kind of battery power loss that prevents you from opening the doors and can trap you in a burning/sinking Tesla?
- azinman2 1y agoThere’s a physical mechanical open mechanism for doors.
- CaptainOfCoit 1y agoCurious how it worked, I found https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_us/GUID-A7A60DC7-E476-4A86-9C9C-10F4A276AB8B.html https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_us/GUID-A7A60DC... > At the bottom of the rear door pocket, there is a slot in front of the release cover. Slide your finger into the slot and lift to remove the cover. Pull the mechanical release cable forward. I wonder how people are supposed to be able to find that when in an emergency sitting in the backseat of someone else's car.
- hartator 1y agoFront doors are just regular handles.
- CaptainOfCoit 1y agoThat's awesome for the frantic people in the front seats, but I somehow feel like you missed the context.
- rtkwe 1y agoYeah but the back seat is more likely to have children or passengers unfamiliar with the car too so an esoteric emergency procedure is worse there. IMO these cable unlocks shouldn't be allowed for safety, there should be an obvious easy mechanical release people understand which is a normal handle.
- SoftTalker 1y ago
- dist-epoch 1y agoAs Musk would say - if 10% of your rockets (cars) do not blow up (are not recalled), it means you made them too robust.
- engineer_22 1y agomight be a kernel of truth to that
- rconti 1y agoThere's a fight club reference in here somewhere....
- bouncing_bolete 1y agoInteresting timing on this considering the earnings call coming up
- georgeecollins 1y agoYeah, typically when you have bad news you want to get it all out at once. I know nothing about Tesla.
- giancarlostoro 1y agoConsidering the battery is such a core component, I don't see why they would waste any time on it once they've realized and narrowed down the issue.
- mrguyorama 1y agoI don't think a defect with 13k cars is a significant event to a stock that currently is valued based on magic and dreams and possibly geopolitics.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- blinding-streak 1y agoOn the topic of recalls in general. An old buddy of mine in the auto industry believed that legacy automakers would do bogus or superfluous recalls on occasion just to get people back into the dealership. Where sales people could mosey into the service area and talk to the folks with older cars. No hard evidence for it, but it did make me think. (I don't think this applies to Tesla)
- gamblor956 1y agoFor comparison, the level of seriousness compared to an ICE vehicle: this would be like if the fuel tank stopped working.
- mildconcern 1y agoWho else thought this post referred to border patrol vehicles? I try to avoid political news but am apparently failing at some level.
- birdman3131 1y agoGiven that it is a car post Internal Combustion Engine would be my first guess when seeing ICE but I can see where one might think of the other as well.
- reaperducer 1y agoWho else thought this post referred to border patrol vehicles? There were millions of Americans who were very confused in 2020 when BLM protests popped up in other parts of the country. "Why do they hate the Bureau of Land Management?"
- rconti 1y agoA more apt comparison would be a fuel pump, since fuel tanks don't really stop working short of springing a leak which brings its own problems. Fuel pump failure is certainly not an uncommon thing, although in my limited experience, they usually become a bit intermittent and the car sputters for awhile, rather than losing all motive power at once (but that's totally possible too). I am guessing when drive power is lost on an EV it would just coast (hopefully). Since there's effectively no connected battery pack to regen to, and the electric motors won't physically lock up.
- 1970-01-01 1y agoNot unprecedented for ICE. Fuel tank straps will fail outright with heavy rust. There are similar recalls: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2018/RCRIT-18V160-2117.pdf https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2018/RCRIT-18V160-2117.pdf
- waffletower 1y agoWhy not link an article without a paywall? https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-recall-nearly-13000-us-vehicles-over-battery-risk-2025-10-22/ https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-...
- josephcsible 1y agoOther automakers have recalls all the time too. Why is it that every single Tesla recall becomes national news, but virtually no recalls by other automakers ever do? (I can only think of two exceptions in recent history: Takata airbags and Chevy Bolt batteries.)
- reaperducer 1y agoWhy is it that every single Tesla recall becomes national news, but virtually no recalls by other automakers ever do? (I can only think of two exceptions in recent history: Takata airbags and Chevy Bolt batteries.) Maybe you don't read enough legitimate/mainstream media? I see them all the time. Just yesterday: Ford, Dodge, Nissan among over 1.1 million vehicles recalled - https://www.usatoday.com/story/cars/recalls/2025/10/20/check-car-recalls/86793431007/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/cars/recalls/2025/10/20/check... It doesn't get much more "national" than USA Today.
- cowsandmilk 1y ago+1 Toyota Sienna recall earlier this month was national news and was mentioned on my mother in law’s local news broadcast causing her to call us. Hacker News seems to post Tesla recalls, but national news websites that publish recalls seem to do it for every single recall, not just Tesla.
- runlevel1 1y agoAnd Tesla, in general, is of particular interest to the HN community for a variety of reasons. So Tesla news of all sorts gets posted here.
- gruez 1y ago>Just yesterday: Ford, Dodge, Nissan among over 1.1 million vehicles recalled - https://www.usatoday.com/story/cars/recalls/2025/10/20/check https://www.usatoday.com/story/cars/recalls/2025/10/20/check... but how notable was it? In other words was it on the front page either online or in print? The nature of publishing nowadays is that virtually unlimited amounts of articles can be published, but unless you're seeking them out you're not going to stumble upon them like this post.