Recently, according to the State Administration for Market Regulation, Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. and Tesla Motors (Beijing) Co., Ltd. have filed a recall plan with the State Administration for Market Regulation in accordance with the requirements of the Regulations on the Management of Defective Automotive Product Recalls and the Implementation Measures of the Regulations on the Management of Defective Automotive Product Recalls. They will recall some imported and domestically produced electric vehicles in China, totaling over 1.6 million vehicles.
It is worth mentioning that Tesla's last recall of over a million vehicles occurred in May 2023, when Tesla recalled 1.1 million vehicles. After the recall upgrade, drivers were allowed to choose energy recovery braking intensity, which eliminated the "forced single pedal" mode.
Tesla's recent recalls have all been conducted through OTA (Over the Air Download Technology). "With technological innovation, recalling through OTA is not as convenient as requiring consumers to replace parts at the store in the past. It only requires remote software upgrades, which is more convenient. Tesla believes that this innovative approach can help car companies better improve product safety.".
In fact, with the continuous deepening of automotive intelligence and networking, OTA has almost become a standard feature in new cars. Compared to traditional offline software upgrades, OTA upgrades have advantages such as timeliness, convenience, and low cost, as well as the ability to quickly repair system defects, achieve product iteration upgrades, and improve product user experience.
Statistics show that in 2019, OTA technology saved car manufacturers $16.5 billion in after-sales system expenses for various software and program upgrades in automobiles. According to Xiao Lingyun, Director of the Automotive Department of the Defective Product Management Center of the State Administration for Market Regulation, "As of the end of 2022, China's automobile recalls have reached 2628 times, involving nearly 100 million vehicles. This means that the recalled vehicles in the market have accounted for 30% of the total number of vehicles."
However, in recent years, with the hot sales of smart cars, the potential risks associated with OTA upgrades have gradually been exposed. Among them, in 2021, multiple car companies engaged in the act of locking the power of sold vehicles through OTA upgrades, which damaged the rights and interests of many car owners. Focusing on recent repair and recall cases by car companies, Securities Daily reporters have found that "OTA push" is becoming a commonly used disposal method by car companies.
For this new repair method in the automotive segmentation field, corresponding regulatory policies have been improving. As early as June 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued a supplementary notice on the filing of OTA technology recalls, which stipulated that when producers use OTA recalls, they must submit the "Safety Technology Assessment Information Form for Remote Automotive Upgrades (OTA)".
In January 2022, the State Administration for Market Regulation announced that it would strengthen the supervision of OTA technology recalls; In April of the same year, the Equipment Industry Development Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a notice on conducting online upgrade filing for automotive software, requiring automotive companies to complete enterprise management capability filing, vehicle model and function filing, and specific upgrade activity filing in order according to the requirements before implementing online upgrade activities for automotive software - whether it is FOTA (firmware upgrade in the air) or SOTA (software upgrade in the air), they must fulfill their filing obligations.
"Through OTA technology, car companies can achieve remote updates of vehicle software, avoiding the hassle of traditional methods that require car owners to go to repair stations for upgrades. This not only saves car owners' time and energy, but also reduces the maintenance costs of car manufacturers." Zhang Fan, partner of advanced manufacturing and transportation industry at Deji, said, "However, rapid technological iteration and trial and error cannot endanger consumer life and property safety and privacy rights." The right to know comes at the cost. Encourage car companies to implement recalls through OTA, but cannot evade recalls through OTA.