Recently, the website of the State Administration for Market Regulation announced that Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. and Tesla Motors (Beijing) Co., Ltd. will recall a total of 1617643 passenger cars in accordance with relevant regulations, including all imported and domestically produced car series sold in China.
The vehicles recalled this time are divided into two batches, one of which is a total of 7538 imported Model S and Model X electric vehicles produced between October 26, 2022 and November 16, 2023. The above-mentioned vehicles were recalled due to issues with door unlocking logic control. In the event of a collision, the non collision side door latch may detach from the latch, leaving the doors in a non locked state, posing a safety hazard.
The other batch consists of 1610105 imported Model S, Model X, Model 3, as well as domestically produced Model 3 and Model Y electric vehicles with production dates between August 26, 2014 and December 20, 2023. The issue with this batch of vehicles being recalled is that when the automatic assisted steering function is activated, the driver may misuse the level 2 combination driving assistance function, increasing the risk of collision and posing a safety hazard.
To address vehicle issues, Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. and Tesla Motors (Beijing) Co., Ltd. will conduct remote upgrades (OTA) on vehicles to update relevant features.
Screenshot of the website of the State Administration for Market Regulation
In 2023, Tesla conducted a large-scale recall in both the Chinese and American markets.
In May of that year, Tesla recalled 1104622 domestic and imported models, and cancelled the "mandatory single pedal" mode after remote OTA upgrades. In November of the same year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that Tesla would recall more than 2030000 electric vehicles in the United States due to the potential safety hazard of the auto drive system, and the remedial measure was also to conduct OTA on some vehicles; This is also Tesla's largest recall since its establishment.
On the one hand, compared to traditional in store maintenance methods, OTA only requires remote system updates to achieve functional upgrades, which takes less time and is more convenient for car owners. On the other hand, intelligent vehicle models have a higher dependence on the vehicle's infotainment system than traditional fuel models, and once problems arise, the impact on vehicle functionality becomes greater.
A car owner posted on social media platforms stating that in their view, "recall" is equivalent to patching existing functions, further enhancing the safety of the vehicle; And there is no need for car owners to come to the store for repairs, and their perception of the upgraded system is not very obvious. However, some industry insiders also suggest that car companies should adopt a more rigorous attitude towards intelligent driving related technologies, whether in product promotion or feature settings, to better ensure the safety of drivers and passengers.
From a market performance perspective, compared to recall events, the impact of price on delivery volume is more significant. In order to boost sales, Tesla has adjusted the prices of its models multiple times in 2023. Last year, Tesla produced approximately 1.846 million new cars worldwide and delivered approximately 1.809 million new cars, representing a year-on-year increase of 35% and 38%, respectively.