# Why didn't Tesla issue a recall? **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Tags:** tesla\ **Created:** [October 14, 2021, 11:05am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-didnt-tesla-issue-a-recall/179954 "2021-10-14T11:05:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2021, 11:05am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-didnt-tesla-issue-a-recall/179954/1 "2021-10-14T11:05:58Z")
> **[US regulators seek answers from Tesla over lack of recall](https://apnews.com/article/technology-business-software-881ef270cbfdc6e4f62b88400588686f?utm_source=morning_brew&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=mb)** > > DETROIT (AP) — U.S. safety investigators want to know why Tesla didn't file recall documents when it updated Autopilot software to better identify parked emergency vehicles, escalating a simmering clash between the automaker and regulators. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2021, 2:32pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-didnt-tesla-issue-a-recall/179954/2 "2021-10-14T14:32:13Z")
I’m not a big fan but wondering if they are being punished for leaving California? ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2021, 7:10pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-didnt-tesla-issue-a-recall/179954/3 "2021-10-14T19:10:17Z")
That’s funny @bing. I’m sure you’re joking because it doesn’t make sense at all. Tesla is moving their HQ to Austin, TX, not out of the country. Also, it sure looks like Tesla is not following the rules set up to protect citizens from predatory manufacturers. Tesla isn’t the only one to do that, but they should know that companies that do thumb their noses at these rules end up paying a lot of money for the mistake. Toyota paid more than $66 million eight years ago for delayed reporting of unintended acceleration problems. Other manufacturers have met a similar fate when they didn’t provide due diligence on safety issues. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2021, 8:22pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-didnt-tesla-issue-a-recall/179954/4 "2021-10-14T20:22:47Z")
> [@jtsanders](#): > > Also, it sure looks like Tesla is not following the rules set up to protect citizens from predatory manufacturers. I guess I’d be interested in the connections of the people that made the decision to pursue the issue. Seems though a recall for an over the air software update for a system that is still supposed to have a live person monitoring is somewhat suspicious. Strange things are happening though. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2021, 1:11am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-didnt-tesla-issue-a-recall/179954/5 "2021-10-15T01:11:16Z")
Why does everything that involves the government have to also involve some sort of conspiracy? ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2021, 1:19am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-didnt-tesla-issue-a-recall/179954/6 "2021-10-15T01:19:04Z")
> [@jtsanders](#): > > Why does everything that involves the government have to also involve some sort of conspiracy? Now you’re catching on. It’s called experience. It doesn’t have to involve that, but don’t ever think that it might not. Sometimes the hoof beats are in fact from Zebras. ---
**Author:** ![TheWonderful90s](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/thewonderful90s/32/29584_2.png) [@TheWonderful90s](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TheWonderful90s)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2021, 4:09am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-didnt-tesla-issue-a-recall/179954/7 "2021-10-15T04:09:16Z")
So Tesla updates their software over the air, and the government wants them to recall the vehicles so people can drive to the dealers and be told that their car has already been fixed? Punishing a company for fixing something seems to be a very bad way to regulate safety. ---
**Author:** ![Nevada\_545](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/nevada_545/32/41232_2.png) [@Nevada\_545](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Nevada_545)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2021, 4:59am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-didnt-tesla-issue-a-recall/179954/8 "2021-10-15T04:59:24Z")
> [@TheWonderful90s](#): > > So Tesla updates their software over the air, and the government wants them to recall the vehicles so people can drive to the dealers and be told that their car has already been fixed? Being able to correct a safety issue by _sleight of hand_ does not excuse the manufacture of recall procedures. When a safety issue is known, the manufacture is required to notify NHTSA and vehicle owners of the problem within a certain time period, usually 30 to 60 days. manufacture are then required to file recall completion data to NHTSA. > [@TheWonderful90s](#): > > so people can drive to the dealers and be told that their car has already been fixed? There have been some recalls resolve via the postal system, not all recalls require a visit to a dealer. Read the instruction on the recall notice. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2021, 1:01pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-didnt-tesla-issue-a-recall/179954/9 "2021-10-15T13:01:25Z")
> [@bing](#): > > Now you’re catching on. It’s called experience. There’s another name for it…but I’ll be polite. So far your conspiracies you keep promoting have been total bogus. ---
**Author:** ![TheWonderful90s](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/thewonderful90s/32/29584_2.png) [@TheWonderful90s](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TheWonderful90s)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2021, 1:56pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-didnt-tesla-issue-a-recall/179954/10 "2021-10-15T13:56:46Z")
> [@bing](#): > > Seems though a recall for an over the air software update for a system that is still supposed to have a live person monitoring is somewhat suspicious. In other words, calling something a safety issue and then making it in to a safety defect when it really doesn’t qualify for a safety defect that should traditionally require a recall. Imagine a car company selling or offering a steering wheel upgrade where you can get a new steering wheel that is less slippery and easier to grip. Then the government comes along and declares this a safety defect and forces a recall and a free upgrade. The car company is just going say it’s fine and not offer that upgrade. If something that isn’t mandated for safety or doesn’t do something that it was never advertised to do in the first place is classified as a safety issue it means that almost everything on a car would be a safety issue. Broken horn - safety issue. Window won’t go down - safety issue. Power steering starts slipping - safety issue. Engine stall - safety issue. Burned out headlight - safety issue. Broken turn signal - safety issue. Stuck parking brake linkage - safety issue. Broken speedometer - safety issue. All these things are just normal things that break and are repaired normally. The government shouldn’t be allowed to arbitrarily declare these things to be safety defects. With the GM ignition switch failures, the only reason why it got classified as a safety defect is it turned off the airbag, even though the engine stalling combined with an improperly trained driver is what caused most of the accidents and deaths. I agree that it is suspicious for any improvements on the auto pilot to require recalls. Maybe the existing auto industry is using the NHTSA to pick on Tesla since they don’t have an auto pilot system of their own? ---
**Author:** ![Scrapyard-John](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@Scrapyard-John](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Scrapyard-John)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2021, 2:14pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-didnt-tesla-issue-a-recall/179954/11 "2021-10-15T14:14:35Z")
I think the autopilot tech is kind of a safety hazard in and of itself, personally. ---
**Author:** ![Barkydog](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/barkydog/32/2470_2.png) [@Barkydog](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Barkydog)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2021, 2:26pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-didnt-tesla-issue-a-recall/179954/12 "2021-10-15T14:26:04Z")
2 recals on the Toyota, spare tire may not be inflated to correct pressure, and a new sticker for maximum weight, certainly not as dangerous as autopilot, ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2021, 7:48pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-didnt-tesla-issue-a-recall/179954/13 "2021-10-15T19:48:06Z")
> [@TheWonderful90s](#): > > The government shouldn’t be allowed to arbitrarily declare these things to be safety defects. They don’t do that. The NHTSA is a professional organization that has a predefined process used to evaluate issues and determine if they are worthy of a recall. Just because you don’t understand it doesn’t mean there is anything wrong with it. Tesla circumvented that process and may have to pay a large fine for doing so. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2021, 10:23pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-didnt-tesla-issue-a-recall/179954/14 "2021-10-15T22:23:17Z")
Must be a conspiracy. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 12:23am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-didnt-tesla-issue-a-recall/179954/15 "2021-10-16T00:23:25Z")
I expect the answer is related to how the 737 Max was allowed to continue flying. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 12:03pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-didnt-tesla-issue-a-recall/179954/16 "2021-10-16T12:03:44Z")
> [@MikeInNH](#): > > Must be a conspiracy Yup! Anything and everything with which we disagree (or simply don’t understand) just _HAS_ to be a conspiracy. 😏 ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2021, 11:02pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-didnt-tesla-issue-a-recall/179954/17 "2021-10-16T23:02:06Z")
I made no claim. I only asked the question given the unusual timing and current events. Some questions must not be asked. ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/original/3X/8/2/82e14550b8514d7cafebc3cdf7d834254f423eb9.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![TheWonderful90s](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/thewonderful90s/32/29584_2.png) [@TheWonderful90s](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TheWonderful90s)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2021, 2:41am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-didnt-tesla-issue-a-recall/179954/18 "2021-10-17T02:41:37Z")
> [@George\_San\_Jose1](#): > > I expect the answer is related to how the 737 Max was allowed to continue flying. Actually I believe the 737 MAX disaster was at least partially due to huge amounts of bureaucracy, regulation, and working with conflicting goals of the new airplane modification within Boeing, while trying to prevent any changes from being seen as safety issues. Changing out the engines would require certifying the airplane. So they wanted to patch it to make it fly like the original version. They probably couldn’t modify the flight controls in the proper way because it’s not a fly by wire airplane, and / or modifying the flight controls would require lengthy testing due to regulations. So they decided to make an automatic trim adjustment system with limited authority, just enough to correct the different handling from the new engines. With such small authority, there was no danger of the system adjusting the trim to the point that the airplane would be unable to fly, so only one sensor was needed as an input to this system. At some point it needed to have greater authority, perhaps to be able to act as an additional stall recovery system as well. It was then given enough trim adjustment authority to crash the airplane if it malfunctioned. Perhaps the thought was that adding an additional redundant sensor to the system would make this look like a safety system that would require much testing before it could be approved. So they used a single sensor to control the system. The sensor failed at least 3 times causing the stall recovery system to activate when there was no stall. One flight crew was able to shut the system off in time. The two others didn’t know what was going on until it was too late. My point here is that there is a possible parallel between a car company and Boeing. The car company may not want to improve a possible safety issue for fear that it will be noticed by regulators and result in a recall and cost a lot of money. Then there is Boeing who may have tried to modify their airplane in such a way that it would not be seen as a safety issue by regulators and cost them a bunch more money. Perhaps there is more to the story about why Boeing didn’t even require pilots to even be aware of the new system? ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2021, 12:05pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-didnt-tesla-issue-a-recall/179954/19 "2021-10-17T12:05:49Z")
> [@George\_San\_Jose1](#): > > I expect the answer is related to how the 737 Max was allowed to continue flying. Many years ago, I was flying to Seattle for vacation, and seated behind me was a guy who claimed to be a Boeing engineer. For most of the flight, he regaled the young guy sitting next to him with tales of how many bits of bad engineering shortcuts had gone into the 727, 737, and 747. It was obvious that his tongue had been loosened by copious amounts of alcohol, so much of what he blathered about may have been exaggerated, but–needless to say–I never again felt fully confident when flying in a Boeing plane. ---
**Author:** ![MikeInNH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a587f6/32.png) [@MikeInNH](https://community.cartalk.com/u/MikeInNH)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2021, 12:19pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-didnt-tesla-issue-a-recall/179954/20 "2021-10-17T12:19:50Z")
> [@bing](#): > > I made no claim. I only asked the question given the unusual timing and current events. Some questions must not be asked. But you didn’t post the OTHER stages. It’s tested, verified and pier reviewed. [Next page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/why-didnt-tesla-issue-a-recall/179954.md?page=2)