Tesla is recalling nearly all of the vehicles it has sold in the U.S. because some warning lights on the instrument panel are too small.
The recall of nearly 2.2 million vehicles announced Friday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is a sign of stepped-up scrutiny of the electric vehicle maker. The agency also said it has upgraded a 2023 investigation into Tesla steering problems to an engineering analysis, a step closer to a recall.
Documents posted Friday by the agency say the warning light recall will be done with an online software update. It covers the 2012 through 2023 Model S, the 2016 through 2023 Model X, the 2017 through 2023 Model 3, the 2019 through 2024 Model Y and the 2024 Cybertruck.
The agency says that the brake, park and antilock brake warning lights have a smaller font size than required by federal safety standards. That can make critical safety information hard to read, increasing the risk of a crash.
… I really dislike how headlines are designed, not to inform, but even to the opposite in the name of drawing clicks. I realize this isn’t on you, but more the AP, but still.
TL;DR The warning light FONT is too small.
It’s a good idea though. There’s a lot of info on that screen and it would definitely help usability by highlighting important info better.
Personally I’m most frustrated by battery percent and clock being too small, although maybe those aren’t important info. I’ve only gone on one road trip in a Tesla and it was tough keeping an eye on the predicted final battery level. I don’t know if I need to do something to get it to recommend charging, or if it just wasn’t close enough to matter - it’s a new car so I can’t trust predictions until I see how they work for me
A few days old, but the predicted amount left when you put in a navigation is usually pretty accurate. It’ll automatically navigate you to a supercharger if you need it when you put the Destination in and
I think there are settings about make sure I don’t go below X% or arrive below Y%that’s from a better route planner, not tesla.As long as you don’t have a lead foot and stay close to the speed limit and the weather is reasonable, it’ll be good. I can’t speak to ultra cold personally though.
It’s never been off for me by more than 2% and that’s in both directions, sometimes up to 2 less and sometimes up to 2 more.
The nerve racking part is when you have a giant mountain near the end of a trip and you see the range plummeting, but then you hit the peak and go downhill without using any battery for the next 15km. I still get uneasy on that if I’m low.
Also if you did have a lead foot and can’t make it anymore, I’ve had it warn me to slow down or find a charger once.
Thanks. I’ll have to find those settings
Hey, so I thought I’d be nice and actually find it, but I was wrong, I was thinking of a better route planner which is a 3rd party app.
Sorry about that.
I think the best you can do in car is watch the arrival % of next destination while charging
It’s not a “recall”, it’s a software update - and a minor one at that.
Why is it that software updates in cars aren’t called what they are because… cars? A recall is when you have to drag your ass to your local garage to have faulty brakes replaced. A software update is when you have nothing at all to do and the next day, the warning light font is 2pt larger.
“Recall” is a legal term. The NHSTA has issued a formal finding that the manufacturer is obligated to respond to. Whether the fix is mechanical, electrical, software based or something else, and wether it can be fixed by an over the air software update, requires a visit to a dealer, or someone comes to you, it is still all legally a recall.
I totally overlooked the process aspect of it. Makes sense.
It’s just that it feels so weird to call a simple software update a recall…
Then again, cars getting OTA software updates are ever weirder - and frankly kind of creepy - to this gen-Xer. Internet-connected cars is a major reason why I’m balking at buying that EV I’d like to buy and I keep my old diesel car.
I’ve had both a Toyota and a Honda recalled for software issues, and I’ve seen the actual recall notices for both. For the Toyota (a hybrid) the recall notice and a letter came in the mail explaining that I’d get a usb stick in the mail. A few weeks later I got it along with instructions on how to install it. It basically said to plug it into the car, turn the car on, then wait about 10 minutes until you saw a certain message.
The Honda was a huge pain. For a few years I would find the battery was dead after a long drive. It was very intermittent. Three mechanics and 2 batteries later it was still happening. Dealer mechanics were no help either. Eventually I posted the symptoms on a Honda enthusiasts forum, and within a few days I was pointed to two different recall notices that described my problem perfectly. They were software bugs in the ECU that would cause the alternator to be disabled occasionally when it shouldn’t. The only problem is the range of VINs on those recalls didn’t match my car.
I took printouts of the recalls to a dealer, they checked and confirmed my car had the buggy ECU software. They updated it, and I never had that problem again.
That’s a nice story but what was the point of it?
A recall is what they have to legally call it in the automotive world, that’s why they keep calling them recalls.
Thanks! I wasn’t aware. I learned something today 🙂
Wrong.
Stupid, because some of their rear turn signals is just a small thin line, I’ve mistaken it as a brake light several times. I hate tesla’s “ingenuity” and their stupid caterpillar lights.
This has nothing to do with that. It’s literally about the icon sizes on the screen. The actual outside lights were approved well before the first car rolled off the line. This “recall” is fixed by a minor software update. Please don’t fall for the clickbait FUD.
I didn’t fall for the click bait, I know it’s for the cluster notification sizes. I’m saying that I think their tail lights are stupid, and how they passed safety blows my mind.
North America should really make separate amber turn signals mandatory, but that is not what this software update is about.
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Of all the things they should do a recall for…
It would behoove them to just fix all the shit at once. They are def going to have to do this again.
