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.
By revenue from those sales rather than units, Tesla is 12th. Ford is 6th.
https://www.motortrend.com/news/2024-2026-ford-ranger-recall...
https://247wallst.com/investing/2025/10/17/ford-recall-recor...
https://www.usatoday.com/story/cars/recalls/2025/09/24/ford-...
https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/ford-issues-more-saf...
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.
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.
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.
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.
I threw up in my mouth a little upon reading this phrase. Dark times.
Past Tesla recalls addressed by OTA updates include fixes for braking, steering, headlights, tire pressure monitoring, collision avoidance, etc...
The whining about this is old.
Yeah, sure, you might be smart enough to understand that the word has a legal definition, and sometimes a recall is an absolute nothingburger. For example, Tesla once had to do a recall because some warning icons on the screen were legally deemed to be a couple pixels too small. Yet, when news outlets announce "Tesla recalls every Model 3 ever made", it's TECHNICALLY true, but will be highly misleading to the general population who now thinks every Model 3 has to be returned.
EDIT: Also, FWIW, even when a recall DOES require a physical change of the car, Tesla's mobile service can often come to you to do it. You don't need to take it to a service center.
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.
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.
The 12V battery dying is only an issue if the car is parked and the high voltage battery is disconnected. Then there may not be enough power to 'wake' the car up again.
Mine failed after ~5 years. Replacement was inexpensive ($128) and Tesla service drove to my house to install it.
Like another poster in this thread, my original model 3 battery went ~5 years (typical 12v failure age in a car), and I bought it for $89(!!) at Tesla. Autozone wanted $125 for the same group battery. I did a DIY replacement. For some reason, that one failed after a year and a half. Just bad luck I guess.
Some EV makers, including Tesla, have switched to Li-ion (often LFP) low-voltage batteries. These tend to be better suited to EV duty cycles than lead-acid, and improve reliability and longevity, as well as saving space and weight.
To lecture us on EV brake systems while repeatedly misspelling the word is making me twitch far too early this otherwise fine Wednesday morning.
You obviously wouldn't be able to speed up again, which depending on the situation, would be where the danger lies.
Tesla buys plenty of products from them, including things like electric steering assist.
Bosch wants to stay relevant for longer than ICE cars after all, and a lot of these components were developed for ICE cars anyway.
But e.g. why have different electric window motors, wiper motors, turn signal solenoids etc etc?
I have to wonder if this ever happened with the 6v to 12v transition somewhere in the 50's-60's
Virtually all electronics need a step down (buck) converters as they run at lower voltages 5, 3.3, 1.8. 12V > 3.3- 1V would a single step. 48V ones would likely require an intermediate step. The only exception would be running some power systems where it'd require less current.
The main savings is current though, because the wiring harness is one of the most expensive parts of a car.
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.
You generally can't reuse non-automotive power supplies in automotive because the requirements are very different.
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.
There are a few different topologies for a 48v harness, but somewhere in the line there's a 12V DC/DC converter in there somewhere.
Availability of accessories seems like it would be inconvenient for any early adopters, e.g. you can readily get USB chargers, portable generators, coolers, tire inflators, battery boosters, etc. that run off 12V... if you get a 48V vehicle today, you'd either need a 110V->12V adapter to run accessories, or you'd be limited to 48V RV accessories.
As to whether the booster is run off of the 400V or 12V bus I don't actually know. My guess would be the latter, honestly, since the parts would be more generic. But in any case it probably doesn't matter if the main battery fails as the 12V battery is tiny and would probably not provide enough power to run the hydraulics without the DC/DC converter.
Again, Tesla brakes are very conventional hydraulic devices and they work (and fail) like brakes in any other car you're going to drive.
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
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!
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.
Either way, the battery is indeed 'tiny'
https://electrek.co/2025/10/22/tesla-recalls-recent-model-3-...
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.
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.
It is perfectly acceptable to use only to refer to a select group.
In the dishwasher example, "only" refers to "moving parts" which is a collective singular, like how "baseball team" is properly an "it," not a "they."
Same goes for the compsci example. By modifying the plural with adjectives, you narrow its scope.
Either way, the usage in the original comment was exactly the same as the dishwasher example: "the only moving parts are X, Y, and Z" => "X is one of the only moving parts".
It would be more correct to say "there are only 4 positive integers less than 10. 8 is one of them."
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/one%20of%20the%20...
You find them in motor starters, you can use them to switch multiple light circuits with a single switch, among other uses.
The contactor is what connects the battery to the motors to provide them with power. If the contactor is bad, power cannot flow from the batteries to the motors and the car cannot be driven. I believe the rest of the electronics are powered from a 12VDC battery, all of that would still work.
> 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.
The manual bypass for the driver and passenger seat is much easier to find than the one in the rear. Too bad the driver can't help rescue everyone else, because the door handles are electric.
I point them out to any passengers in the back seat.
If you have kids that are likely to pull them ... different story.
FTFY
Here's a model x, this feels pretty hidden to me: https://youtube.com/shorts/cfPhUY9erLM
This model 3 version has nothing: https://youtube.com/shorts/FWUWm9KaHzE
Here's the model y: https://youtube.com/shorts/FVwuOdMBpfo
I'm aware of at least three different versions of emergency release on the model 3 which vary greatly.
https://people.com/woman-dies-after-allegedly-being-trapped-...
https://nypost.com/2025/09/19/world-news/tesla-driver-and-tw...
No hard evidence for it, but it did make me think. (I don't think this applies to Tesla)
I try to avoid political news but am apparently failing at some level.
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?"
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.
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...
It doesn't get much more "national" than USA Today.
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.
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.
Tesla deliberately pushes boundaries and breaks from tradition. That's admirable, but traditional manufacturers have decades of engineering knowledge behind their approaches for good reasons. Push the envelope enough and you'll have more misses and in Tesla's case more recalls
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, LLC, 24 (2%)
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.), 24 (2%)
Kia America, Inc., 24 (2%)
Jayco, Inc., 22 (2%)
International Motors, LLC, 21 (2%)
Nova Bus (US) Inc., 21 (2%)
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing, 21 (2%)
Nissan North America, Inc., 20 (2%)
Tesla, Inc., 20 (2%)
Mack Trucks, Inc., 17 (1%)
Winnebago Industries, Inc., 16 (1%)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 ten times its annual U.S. sales volume.
This reflects a structural difference, not media bias. Tesla initiates fewer recall campaigns overall, but those campaigns routinely involve millions of vehicles. When normalized for sales volume, Tesla’s recall exposure is the highest of any major automaker. “Innovation risk” cuts both ways.
Not OP but not really. Recalls are pretty rare in most cars.
I own lots of cars and I've only had two recalls in the last 33 years. One for a Mazda minivan to replace a rear hatch shock (i.e. nothing safety related) and one for a Dodge truck (I don't remember what it was).
The entire car dealership lobby hates Tesla, for example.
- Tesla PR department = { } // the empty set
- CEO drives all external communication (pun intended)
Granted I'm Canadian so that might make a difference, but Tesla recalls aren't the only one making national new. They just don't typically appear on Hacker News.
That's wrong. There are regularly national news stories about recalls from other car brands. However, you'd still expect to see more Tesla news on HN because of the intersection with tech and startups.
You’re not actually asking about media fairness. You’re defending Elon Musk under the usual “everyone’s unfair to Elon” routine. Now think about the difference in public visibility between the Ford CEO and the Tesla CEO. Which one’s name alone drives more clicks and engagement?
Musk injects himself into the news constantly. When you build your brand on publicity, you also get the scrutiny that comes with it. No need to play at the victim narrative.
Theres always someone complaining about or defending negative Tesla news here for the same reason, but less so because of the drivers.
zerosizedweasle•3mo ago