I think the issue was that the headlines omitted the fact that it was a software update changing the size of some icons in the car's UI. And instead just stated that millions of Tesla cars were recalled, the default assumption being they were recalled to a service dealership instead of an OTA update at home.
The oil lobbyists and Tesla haters absolutely don't want the phrase 'software' in any of the media headlines or HN titles relating to Tesla software recalls and vehemently argued against it. The media grants their wishes.
It's hardly surprising that Tesla fans are not demanding that the word recall not be used for this car hardware issue, even they're more rational and less delusional about car recall phrasing than Tesla haters who seem to be agenda driven to create negative perception about Tesla, and the media happily accommodates them all the time.
This spin on things is hilarious. It wasn’t the “Tesla haters” screaming “don’t mention our precious software! It’s just a recall!”, it was the Tesla fans. “How can it be a recall if it can be fixed without my car going anywhere? The media just wants to make Tesla look bad! This isn’t a recall because Tesla can update it OTA, something the dinosaurs can’t!”
(Which ignores that while Tesla can update more than most other manufacturers, my car gets regular OTA updates too.)
Meanwhile Lincoln sent me a “fix” for a recall that involved neither software or my car moving an inch.
“We identified an issue in your vehicles user guide that could lead to improper seat operation. Please place this piece of paper between pages 168 and 169 of your guide.”
There is a straw man that you have concocted that says that "Tesla haters" (and I will own my bias here, despite being the target audience[1] for Tesla, I am a fan neither of the vehicles or the CEO) who are in the software industry are pressing for these recalls to be called out as recalls and not "just a software update".
Some of these are "recalls that can be fixed with software, often OTA". They're still recalls, no matter how you spin it. Because they affect safety. Maybe in a minor way, in an edge case, in some cases, but nonetheless, despite your sarcastic pouting of "I guess it's a light because pixels glow".
Just like it's a recall when Lincoln says "insert this page into your owner's handbook", or Toyota says "affix this sticker at the bottom of p 232".
> Do you think NYPost or the CNN shouldn't have added 'software' in the headline, perhaps before the word recall?
I, personally could not care less whether the word software appears or does not appear in the headline. I care that it's called a recall. I'm sorry that that hurts some Tesla fans feelings in that they think it makes things sound less safer. OTA updates for safety issues were still a safety issue. And I have zero sympathy when I listen, as I have here on HN, to same fans insisting that its a conspiracy to insist on it, while pretzeling themselves into saying that my user manual examples are still recalls "because I still had to do something about them, while their issue was fixed in their sleep".
Sorry. No. If placing a sticker in an owner's manual is a safety recall, so is your OTA update.
[1] liberal, environmentally conscious, heavy tech fascination gadget geek who likes adrenaline and acceleration.
Yet doing everything to spread FUD about the car company that did and is doing the most for the environment., because Musk... bad. Bollocks. I agree Musk isn't great since Covid, but I was not going to burn the environment over it like all the liberal media and liberal folks like you.
If people who supposedly care about the environment don't care two shits about the most popular EV that can make many people get into EVs, I don't care about spending my hard earned money to pay extra for an EV, since it won't matter anyway and it's a group effort which is failing.
The oil lobby pays the right wing, Musk does not. So they demonize Tesla and EVs and the left has joined them since a few years, to my disgust.
I used to be a die hard liberal, I only lately realized that liberal media and many liberals don't care two hoots about climate change. I used to defend them all the time. They've been publishing hit pieces and even fake news about Tesla just because they don't like Musk. They lost the moral high ground about fake news. Those are heavily upvoted on liberal social media like HN and Reddit. I don't like what Musk has been doing lately but I do care about the environment and don't hate Tesla and SpaceX like people on here. I was going to buy an EV even at a price premium but now I don't care. I'll buy a gas guzzler like the rest.
I am too old for climate change to affect me and it turns out the young ones don't care enough about it themselves. I used to be very liberal but seeing how Tesla is maligned on HN and Reddit changed me. I don't think I will vote red but I will never vote blue from now on. And then more liberals will wonder why the vote is so close come November.
I have such skepticism on these things. I don't think you alter your fundamental world view on things like human rights, the environment and such because of "liberal media".
I think exposure to viewpoints that either validate your biases or contradict your worldview strengthen your position, and rarely change it.
In short, I am always skeptical about "I used to be a liberal, but..." (and for clarity, "I used to be conservative, but...") - it's almost exclusively a weird argument to authority. "I know, I understand, I got you. But I saw the light." No, you were probably always conservative, deep down.
This can also differ if you're talking exclusively the political parties, who generally fall under "all suck" in my view.
> I don't think you alter your fundamental world view on things like human rights, the environment and such because of "liberal media"
I haven't, it's part of the reason I said I probably won't vote right.
> In short, I am always skeptical about "I used to be a liberal, but..."
I guess I could link you to my past social media where I used to argue with conservatives over fake news on the right etc.
I can't stand fake news. So then when I saw fake news against Tesla in prestigious media it changed something in me to see liberal hypocrisy. And no, I didn't turn into a conservative.
Electric cars are cool and all but they really aren't that big a deal in terms of the environment. The environmentalists I know hate personalized transportation, full stop. Tesla wants to pave the earth just like any other car company out there. Liberal hypocrisy my ass.
> Meanwhile Lincoln sent me a “fix” for a recall that involved neither software or my car moving an inch.
> “We identified an issue in your vehicles user guide that could lead to improper seat operation. Please place this piece of paper between pages 168 and 169 of your guide.”
Great and perfect example, thanks for bringing that up.
I searched for that issue and every single news article I could find [1] had "missing owner's manual information" or the equivalent right in the headline.
Only Ford or Lincoln haters would argue that removing that information in the headline is a fair and acceptable thing to do.
Are you still going to argue that Tesla is treated the same as Lincoln by the media and on HN? Is hoping for more context in the headlines a bad and unreasonable thing?
Your mistake here is assuming that people are comprised of "haters" and others.
I couldn't care less about Lincoln. I own a Navigator. My partner drives it 99% of the time. It was just the first example that came to mind.
I think Tesla's are overrated for their price - the Model S has (I haven't been in one in 18 months, to be clear) luxury euro pricing for a build quality that is in many cases worse than an econobox Hyundai or Mazda. I lean on the dash in my Audi and it doesn't bow or flex or creak or make me worried that some plastic is about to break. It did in the S. My butt fell asleep after a few hours in a Tesla passenger seat. "Do not use a car wash if the vehicle will be in direct sunlight". Windshields not glued on, at all. Entire brakes missing. Different tires on all four wheels. These aren't teething issues, Tesla is more than two decades old at this point. And doubly so when your CEO gives interviews that have him saying with a straight face, "At this point, I know more about manufacturing than any person living on the planet."
You're just cherrypicking things, not to mention all cars have issues but only Tesla issues get magnified, so you think Tesla is worse. Propaganda works, that's why the liberals are doing what they're doing, spreading FUD about Tesla, and joining the oil lobby in it's crusade against EVs. That's why I don't consider myself a liberal anymore.
A recall is a recall. It might be convenient for the customer that the problem can be fixed via software, but it's ultimately irrelevant with respect to the fact that a safety related issue needed to be corrected.
When I do a simple search for ‘Tesla recall’ in my favorite search engine I get a bunch of results for the recent Tesla recalls. Many of the headlines call out the reasons, I see no persecution of Tesla in the way you describe. There is an easy way for Tesla to avoid all of this though, and it’s to design their vehicles better in the first place.
Looks like the media cares about facts and the fact is, Tesla has had _another_ recall. Tesla is slipping and there seems to be some who are more sensitive to that being discussed than others.
You made me spit out my coffee. The media literally made up fake news about the Tesla strike in Sweden. This is coming from someone who argued for year up until covid that fake news was exclusive to the right wing. It sad to see liberals and liberal media slip so much
To be fair, software recalls are just a scam by big post office. /s
(more seriously, software updates trigger a required mailed notification, even if the work has already been done. physical recalls do not trigger the same requirement)
