Tesla Issues An OTA “Recall” For 947 Vehicles

Tesla has issued an over-the-air (OTA) update “recall” for 947 vehicles in the US, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports. The update will solve the possible problem of the rearview image not immediately displaying when the vehicle begins to reverse.

Tesla informed the NHTSA that the “recall” covers some of its 2018–2019 Model S, X, and 2017–2020 Model 3 vehicles that have its Autopilot Computer 2.5 installed while operating certain firmware releases.

The Tesla vehicles were not in compliance with a federal safety standard on rear visibility, so Tesla is quickly solving that with an OTA update. According to Reuters, the NHTSA said that delayed rearview camera images increase the risk of a crash by reducing the drivers’ rear view.

Fortunately, Tesla owners of the vehicles affected will only have to download their updates — as Tesla owners always do when there is a new update — to fix the issue.

Although the NHTSA classifies any OTA update that is solving a safety-related issue a recall, the drivers don’t have to take their cars into a service center and wait forever and a day to have them fixed. This is actually one of the benefits of an OTA update and serves Tesla’s customers exceptionally well considering that dealerships associations across the US don’t like having Tesla service centers in their cities and towns.

Despite the headlines, Tesla isn’t the most recalled automotive company by the NHTSA — including this year. Teslarati has a great article on that topic noting that just this year alone, Tesla has only had four recalls, or five if you count the new one announced today.

However, the term “recall” is kind of misleading since it gives the impression that something is terribly wrong with the vehicle and that it needs to be taken into a service center. In many cases, Tesla solves its safety issues with an OTA update. Yet, every time there is an OTA-related recall, things get taken out of context for the sake of clickbait.