Tesla recalls nearly half a million Model 3 and Model S cars • Hacker News Board

Re: Tesla recalls nearly half a million Model 3 and Model S cars

#251

Post by asddubs » Fri, Dec 31, 2021, 9:26 AM UTC

mehrdada wrote: post #249

I had the Model S frunk open in front of me while driving. Lucky to be alive. On my last Model S (2018 model year), I was driving up on a bridge and it suddenly opened and blocked my forward visibility, with a trailer on my right. The vehicle was looked at by service a number of times because I got intermittent “Front trunk hood status unknown” (which I had also seen on a couple loaner Model S’s) and service despite…

yikes. so it was an electronic failure, where the computer decided that the hood goes up now, not a mechanical one?

Re: Tesla recalls nearly half a million Model 3 and Model S cars

#252

Post by asddubs » Fri, Dec 31, 2021, 9:29 AM UTC

GuB-42 wrote: post #180

rconti wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not just SUVs. The visibility out of the rear of my Model 3 is almost as bad as the rear of my BMW X5 SUV. The trunk is so high, you cannot see the headlights of a following passenger car until it's some distance behind. It's not just Tesla, visibility across all cars is getting worse over time, as manufacturers are pushed by crash test standards to improve performance in a crash against another vehicle or stationary…

In Europe (Euro NCAP), crash test standards include tests against pedestrians and electronic assistance like ESP and emergency breaking, including against pedestrians. Standards are regularly updated to take new technologies, other road users, and potential loopholes into account. Maybe it is different in the US, but most cars sold in the US are sold in Europe too. Weight and visibility are still a problem, and elect…

>most cars sold in the US are sold in Europe too.

is this actually the case? i'm sure the inverse is true, but when I visited australia (which admittedly I'm aware is not in the US) I was surprised how many huge cars there were, which you don't really see at least in my part of europe. I was under the impression american cars similarly tend to be bigger than european ones

Re: Tesla recalls nearly half a million Model 3 and Model S cars

#253

Post by theshadowknows » Fri, Dec 31, 2021, 10:24 AM UTC

bumby wrote: post #202

theshadowknows wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My understanding of the automotive industry is that they cut corners everywhere they can because they know it’ll save more money than a lawsuit or recall will cost. Do they do these things and when someone dies or raises a stink only then do they do the recall.

This is largely urban legend from the Corvair debacle when an internal document showed someone comparing costs of lawsuits to a cost of recall. I don’t think it ever made it into some sort of policy, it was just a math wonk running numbers

Actually I was referring to the Ford rollover thing: https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news-release/ford-hid-suv-...

And to the GM ignition thing: https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/2014/10/3/18073458/gm-car-r...

Re: Tesla recalls nearly half a million Model 3 and Model S cars

#254

Post by Peanuts99 » Fri, Dec 31, 2021, 1:05 PM UTC

asddubs wrote: post #252

GuB-42 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Europe (Euro NCAP), crash test standards include tests against pedestrians and electronic assistance like ESP and emergency breaking, including against pedestrians. Standards are regularly updated to take new technologies, other road users, and potential loopholes into account. Maybe it is different in the US, but most cars sold in the US are sold in Europe too. Weight and visibility are still a problem, and elect…

>most cars sold in the US are sold in Europe too. is this actually the case? i'm sure the inverse is true, but when I visited australia (which admittedly I'm aware is not in the US) I was surprised how many huge cars there were, which you don't really see at least in my part of europe. I was under the impression american cars similarly tend to be bigger than european ones

Most European cars need modifications before they can be sold in the US and visa versa. Some manufacturers have previously said it's like building two separate cars for the two different markets.

Re: Tesla recalls nearly half a million Model 3 and Model S cars

#255

Post by beeboop » Fri, Dec 31, 2021, 2:26 PM UTC

deviantbit wrote: post #164

panick21_ wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems like BS unless you just an extreme outlier among extreme. Tesla Quality problems were never with their battery or impact safety. In fact the rank best in class in pretty much ever safety rating in pretty much every country. I have been following Tesla for a long time and every single 'Tesla catches on fire for no reason' story turned out to be non-sense. A Tesla catching on fire 'spontaneously' would have…

Nope. Not BS. Sorry, you don't like it, but it is true. More Tesla's have caught fire than any other brand of vehicle in this Texas community. Google Fire Tesla Texas. Enjoy!

How do you have accurate stats of every vehicle fire in your town by make and model? I doubt you do, which is why your statement sounds dishonest

Re: Tesla recalls nearly half a million Model 3 and Model S cars

#256

Post by beeboop » Fri, Dec 31, 2021, 2:27 PM UTC

abdel_nasser wrote: post #200

deviantbit wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't live in Texas heat either.

i have been an electric vehicle enthusiast and evangelist for more than a decade, well before anyone knew tesla or elon. i know everything about electric cars. i can state with total confidence that the hottest ambient temperature that a tesla might encounter would have precisely zero chance of causing the battery to overheat, let alone overheat to the point of creating thermal runaway.

I'd just ignore him. He doesn't know what he's talking about

Re: Tesla recalls nearly half a million Model 3 and Model S cars

#257

Post by irthomasthomas » Fri, Dec 31, 2021, 3:40 PM UTC

To put this in perspective, Tesla had sold about 2 million cars total. So Tesla have recalled a quarter of all the cars they have ever sold.

Re: Tesla recalls nearly half a million Model 3 and Model S cars

#258

Post by matthewdgreen » Fri, Dec 31, 2021, 4:07 PM UTC

cududa wrote: post #206

matthewdgreen wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The recall is not specifically for vehicles with broken backup cameras. It is to deal with cars that have working cameras, but contain a flaw wherein closing the trunk could damage the cable and cause the backup camera to cease working. So TL;DR this should be fixed ASAP (hence the recall) but presumably those cars with currently-working cameras are perfectly safe to drive until then. The Model S hood issue, on the o…

Okay so let’s say someone is at the grocery store, loads up the trunk, while doing so breaks the cable. Tries to backup without the camera/ obscured field of view inherent to the vehicle, hits someone. I get most auto manufacturers calculate risk of death versus recall value, but Tesla doesn’t really have the cash on hand to survive that, and the stock would get obliterated. Why chastise them for being proactive?

>Why chastise them for being proactive?

Who is chastising whom? As an M3 owner I'm thrilled they're being proactive with this recall. I'm also thrilled that this issue is minor and any failure is easily detected. My camera is working fine, and as long as it continues to work fine I'm not at (extra) risk of hitting anyone.

Compare this to a critical safety issue like a malfunctioning accelerator cable or a defective hood-latch -- those are things that could pop up at any moment without any warning and kill people. My point above is that safety-critical recalls exist on a spectrum, and this one is about as benign as you get. Whereas the Model S frunk issue is not benign at all.

Re: Tesla recalls nearly half a million Model 3 and Model S cars

#259

Post by HeyLaughingBoy » Fri, Dec 31, 2021, 4:40 PM UTC

ajross wrote: post #178

userbinator wrote: post #102

For affected Model 3 owners, Tesla has pledged to install a new cable harness and guide protector free of charge. Wiring harness flexing and chafing is a decades-old well-known problem with well-known solutions. I wonder what the people who designed that area are thinking now, when they were presumably trying to save costs? If Teslas' issues were specific to being EVs or otherwise new functionality specific to its ca…

Is this at all an abnormal issue? I've had cable run failures myself in other cars. It's a pretty routine thing, I think. It rises to the level of a recall here only because the device on the other end of the wire is the backup camera. It's amazing the amount of attention the simple fact of "TESLA!" can bring to the most mundane and normal issues. It's... an inspection recall. People will just schedule a service visi…

Or is it because the recall encompasses 20% of all the vehicles that Tesla has ever sold?

Re: Tesla recalls nearly half a million Model 3 and Model S cars

#260

Post by HWR_14 » Fri, Dec 31, 2021, 4:43 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #37

HWR_14 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If there is a lot to complain about, why wouldn't you want to buy something else?

Because the alternatives are worse. Bolt EV LG Chem battery recall, Taycan is woefully inadequate for the price point, Ford dealers are adding $10k-$30k “market adjustments” to Mach Es and $5k-$10k for F150 Lightning reservations (which is obnoxious ), Teslas have the Supercharger network, frequent over the air updates, a robust battery warranty, strong resale market, etc. My Model S frunk recall appointment with a m…

>Ford dealers are adding $10k-$30k “market adjustments” to Mach Es and $5k-$10k for F150 Lightning reservations (which is obnoxious)

The price of Teslas went up by 10k+ this year and Teslas famously have reservation costs, so I don't see how that's different at all.

> Teslas have the Supercharger network, frequent over the air updates, a robust battery warranty, strong resale market, etc.

This sentence, the propoints, seem important and barely added as an afterthought. Given that Tesla has been starting to open up its supercharger network, does that change your view of its value?

You consider frequent over the air updates to be a benefit. Can I ask why? It seems like you're at the mercy of Tesla's software QA department for each update to make sure it doesn't decide to crash stop and or accelerated into traffic. Meanwhile, I'm not really aware of what benefits you're getting from those updates.