Tesla Recalls Almost 13,000 EVs over Risk of Battery Power Loss • Hacker News Board

Re: Tesla Recalls Almost 13,000 EVs over Risk of Battery Power Loss

#141

Post by briandw » Wed, Oct 22, 2025, 5:03 PM UTC

op00to wrote: post #131

proee wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are making things up out of thin air. These are recalls from JAN 2024- MAR 2025 Ford Motor Company, 94 (7%) Chrysler (FCA US, LLC), 78 (6%) Forest River, Inc., 67 (5%) General Motors, LLC, 41 (3%) BMW of North America, LLC, 39 (3%) Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC, 33 (3%) Hyundai Motor America, 28 (2%) Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC, 26 (2%) Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., 25 (2%) Daimler Trucks North America, LL…

Ratio of U.S. vehicles recalled in 2024 → 2024 U.S. sales Tesla: 5,135,991 → 516,597 ≈ 9.94. Ford: 4,777,161 → 2,078,832 ≈ 2.30. GM: 1,872,567 → 2,700,000 ≈ 0.69. Toyota: 1,221,666 → 2,330,000 ≈ 0.52. Honda: 3,794,113 → 1,291,490 ≈ 2.94. A Tesla sold in 2024 was roughly 4 times more likely than a Ford to be involved in a recall campaign that year. Despite selling far fewer vehicles, Tesla’s recalls affected nearly te…

Are you counting over the air updates as recalls?

Re: Tesla Recalls Almost 13,000 EVs over Risk of Battery Power Loss

#142

Post by beambot » Wed, Oct 22, 2025, 5:03 PM UTC

op00to wrote: post #131

proee wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are making things up out of thin air. These are recalls from JAN 2024- MAR 2025 Ford Motor Company, 94 (7%) Chrysler (FCA US, LLC), 78 (6%) Forest River, Inc., 67 (5%) General Motors, LLC, 41 (3%) BMW of North America, LLC, 39 (3%) Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC, 33 (3%) Hyundai Motor America, 28 (2%) Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC, 26 (2%) Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., 25 (2%) Daimler Trucks North America, LL…

Ratio of U.S. vehicles recalled in 2024 → 2024 U.S. sales Tesla: 5,135,991 → 516,597 ≈ 9.94. Ford: 4,777,161 → 2,078,832 ≈ 2.30. GM: 1,872,567 → 2,700,000 ≈ 0.69. Toyota: 1,221,666 → 2,330,000 ≈ 0.52. Honda: 3,794,113 → 1,291,490 ≈ 2.94. A Tesla sold in 2024 was roughly 4 times more likely than a Ford to be involved in a recall campaign that year. Despite selling far fewer vehicles, Tesla’s recalls affected nearly te…

A large fraction of the recalls are remediated with OTA software updates too...

Re: Tesla Recalls Almost 13,000 EVs over Risk of Battery Power Loss

#143

Post by runlevel1 » Wed, Oct 22, 2025, 5:06 PM UTC

cowsandmilk wrote: post #118

reaperducer wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.) 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/…

+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.

And 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.

Re: Tesla Recalls Almost 13,000 EVs over Risk of Battery Power Loss

#144

Post by Reason077 » Wed, Oct 22, 2025, 5:14 PM UTC

op00to wrote: post #135

xxs wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>12V battery is tiny and would probably not provide enough power LiFePO4 is capable of providing massive amounts of current for its size (way higher than a conventional acid one). 100A is not that high amount of current to run even with 4s4p setup. A 10kg battery would be beyond sufficient (should be able to fully power the brake system for 1h use). Note: jump on the brakes is expected to consume around 1200W

LiFePO4 can't really be charged and don't like being discharged below freezing.

I don't doubt you could run into problems in extreme cold, but our Model Y SR (LFP pack) has been fine charging in -5C or so. The car is pretty good at managing thermals and making sure the battery doesn't get too cold.

Re: Tesla Recalls Almost 13,000 EVs over Risk of Battery Power Loss

#145

Post by freejazz » Wed, Oct 22, 2025, 5:17 PM UTC

briandw wrote: post #141

op00to wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ratio of U.S. vehicles recalled in 2024 → 2024 U.S. sales Tesla: 5,135,991 → 516,597 ≈ 9.94. Ford: 4,777,161 → 2,078,832 ≈ 2.30. GM: 1,872,567 → 2,700,000 ≈ 0.69. Toyota: 1,221,666 → 2,330,000 ≈ 0.52. Honda: 3,794,113 → 1,291,490 ≈ 2.94. A Tesla sold in 2024 was roughly 4 times more likely than a Ford to be involved in a recall campaign that year. Despite selling far fewer vehicles, Tesla’s recalls affected nearly te…

Are you counting over the air updates as recalls?

It was a recall...

Re: Tesla Recalls Almost 13,000 EVs over Risk of Battery Power Loss

#146

Post by AlotOfReading » Wed, Oct 22, 2025, 5:22 PM UTC

op00to wrote: post #134

nickcw wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cost. The wiring for 48V can be a lot thinner than it is for 12V. As there is a square law involved for resistive heating it turns out that wiring for 48V can use 1/16th of the weight of copper as that for 12V. A switchmode converter can be designed for 48V just as easily as 12V.

It's far cheaper and easier to just pluck a readily available 12V power supply off the shelf than it is to design one that will have limited applications outside of a single manufacturer.

48v automotive designs have been available from suppliers for a few years now.

You generally can't reuse non-automotive power supplies in automotive because the requirements are very different.

Re: Tesla Recalls Almost 13,000 EVs over Risk of Battery Power Loss

#147

Post by Arrath » Wed, Oct 22, 2025, 5:23 PM UTC

op00to wrote: post #134

nickcw wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cost. The wiring for 48V can be a lot thinner than it is for 12V. As there is a square law involved for resistive heating it turns out that wiring for 48V can use 1/16th of the weight of copper as that for 12V. A switchmode converter can be designed for 48V just as easily as 12V.

It's far cheaper and easier to just pluck a readily available 12V power supply off the shelf than it is to design one that will have limited applications outside of a single manufacturer.

The inertia of established supply chains and industry norms can be a real mother to overcome.

Hobbyist computing could benefit from a move to 48V as well, if only to keep the problematic 12VHPWR from killing expensive video cards.

I say hobbyist because AIUI 48v is making inroads in server hardware but that's not my area.

Re: Tesla Recalls Almost 13,000 EVs over Risk of Battery Power Loss

#148

Post by runlevel1 » Wed, Oct 22, 2025, 5:28 PM UTC

diabeetusman wrote: post #23

ferongr wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 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.

It's 3 years old, but this video [1] goes over Tesla's electric brake booster (and its lack of vacuum) [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRZ8XDNz2vU

Well that was more entertaining than I was expecting...

Re: Tesla Recalls Almost 13,000 EVs over Risk of Battery Power Loss

#149

Post by fnordlord » Wed, Oct 22, 2025, 5:29 PM UTC

margalabargala wrote: post #125

reaperducer wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

one 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.

You're not correct. A tertiary definition of "only" is "few". "One of the only" for a member of a small set if perfectly correct in English. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/only

Of all positive integers less than 10, only 4 are even numbers. 8 is one of the only. right?

Re: Tesla Recalls Almost 13,000 EVs over Risk of Battery Power Loss

#150

Post by ajross » Wed, Oct 22, 2025, 5:30 PM UTC

Reason077 wrote: post #132

xxs wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>12V battery is tiny and would probably not provide enough power LiFePO4 is capable of providing massive amounts of current for its size (way higher than a conventional acid one). 100A is not that high amount of current to run even with 4s4p setup. A 10kg battery would be beyond sufficient (should be able to fully power the brake system for 1h use). Note: jump on the brakes is expected to consume around 1200W

> "A 10kg battery would be beyond sufficient" I don't have the exact weight, but Tesla's LFP low-voltage batteries weigh far less than that. Around 2kg at a guess. Rating is 12.8V nominal, 12Ah, 153.6Wh. Not all that much bigger than a laptop battery!

Because it fundamentally is just a laptop battery. The job of the 12V bootstrap battery is to bring the main control hardware (not even the MCU, I don't think) online so that the DC/DC converter can power the 12V bus from the main battery. There are a few other systems that expect to be powered in the event of a main battery failure, like door locks and charging.

But I really don't think hydraulics like power steering/braking are on that list. The fallback for hydraulic failure is manual pressure, just like it is on any car. It's a naturally redundant system.