Tesla recalls 1.8 million cars because their hoods can open while driving

The new software is able to detect if the hood is open and, if so, will display a warning to the driver to alert them to stop their vehicle and secure the hood

This should not be legal. They should be forced to recall vehicles and replace the faulty part instead of kindly asking drivers to pull over when the part fails.

The shit this company gets away with is astounding.

giving elon another $55b bonus should fix it

Although the problem is with the hood latch, as with many Tesla safety recalls, the problem can be fixed with an over-the-air software patch. The new software is able to detect if the hood is open and, if so, will display a warning to the driver to alert them to stop their vehicle and secure the hood.

Patching the software isn't a "fix". Changing out the hood latch so it doesn't come open while driving is a fix.

Trying to solve a hardware problem with a software solution. Where have I seen that before?

Boeing lurking in the shadows

Is this a real recall or an OTA update?

I hate Tesla, but a lot of news outlets are like

TESLA RECALLS BAJILLION CARS And what they really mean is they released an OTA update to fix some extremely rare race condition.

The issue is still bad, but I feel like the news outlets are sensationalizing to the point of dishonesty sometimes.

To be clear I'm not sure I understand the actual underlying issue here, so idk how deserved the headline is, but whenever I see them, I'm immediately skeptical

Beyond any issues with the owner of the company, these cars have multiple dangerous issues.

You cannot treat a company that makes physical stuff that can endanger lives the same way you treat a software company that makes a leisure activity platform.

Iterative design for a purely software environment is way more forgiving than iterative design for physical hardware or even software that interacts with physical hardware. You can profoundly fuck up the backend for a website and take the whole thing down until you could roll back to last known good production, you won't kill anyone, but you'll make the line go down temporarily.

If you profoundly fuck up an iteration on an embedded vehicle system and don't catch it because you don't respect safety regulation or existing engineering norms you can and will kill people.

The problem first became apparent to Tesla in March of this year after complaints about unintended hood opening from Chinese customers. By April, it had identified the problem as deformation of the hood latch switch, "which could prevent the customer from being notified about an open hood state."

Given that China is now an electric car superpower, this situation will not bode well for Tesla in that country.

I wanted a Tesla as a teenager, I recently realized that they are getting so low I could in theory finacance a used one, but they are so much shit lmao, worse than a Kia

By April, it had identified the problem as deformation of the hood latch switch, “which could prevent the customer from being notified about an open hood state.”

I think there was a scandal before with the logic of that thing being not good at all and it becoming dangerous if you've put sufficiently heavy pressure to prevent it from closing a few times.

the problem can be fixed with an over-the-air software patch

I was about to make a bad joke about Tesla trying to fix a mechanical issue with a software patch but apparently Elon beat me to the punchline.

Permanently Deleted

Every day I'm reminded how glad I am that I changed my mind about buying into the early run of the 3 series. Shit quality and even a bigger POS in the head office.

The comments read like a lot of people don't quite understand the issue.

The bonnet (hood if you insist) latch may not warn a driver if it isn't secured correctly. If it is secured correctly then it is fine. So it isn't going to suddenly open.

If the latch isn't shut correctly and then the sensor doesn't report this then the bonnet may open unexpectedly.

If they can use a software update to correct the reporting then that's it fixed.

There's no issue with the actual latching mechanism. It's just the sensor for reporting the latching state.

It may be that it currently works on a two value system. i.e a value for correctly latched and a value for not latched. If that's the case and isn't just not providing the second valve correctly then a simple software change to only use the latched value would fix this. As any other value or the absence of a value will report it at unlatched.

My late-Dad used to have an old flatbed truck he kept around for hauling bulky items. It was faded metallic dark-blue with a cracked white fibreglass shell and oh, so many dings.

I borrowed it once to move furniture. Was driving on an open stretch of a 6-lane freeway (California 🤷🏻‍♂️) going past rolling hills. Enjoying the scenery, listening to tunes on the only FM station it could play.

Then BAM! The front hood whipped up and completely covered the windshield. Was going 65mph, but luckily not too many cars on that stretch. Tried to slow down, stupidly hoping it would flop back down, but of course, too much wind. Turned on the hazard lights, stuck my head out the window (front was completely blocked), and gradually moved to the right shoulder.

The hood was solid metal, and was amazingly not destroyed. The hinges were also super strong, and had kept the hood from hitting the windshield. Realized things could have gone a LOT worse. But the hinges had bent back a bit. I tried to pull it down again, but it wouldn't close. I ended up hopping on top and jumping up and down like someone having an episode. It was enough to reach the little latch. Ended up using some old rope to tie the hood down to the fender, enough to hobble off the freeway and make it home on city streets.

My father took the truck back, then used a sledgehammer and a winch to bring the hood back into alignment. No big. The dents just added character. That truck lasted another 10+ years.

The Tesla recall is more about the latch sensor and it sounds like it can be fixed with an OTA update. Point is, seriously doubt a Tesla's hood would survive an actual catastrophic flop-up event like Dad's old beast.

Surely this was all worth the 47 billion

Who knew Tommy Boy drove a Tesla?

software is able to detect if the hood is open and, if so, will display a warning to the driver

Imagine you're on the highway, going fast, and a suddenly some really big red thing sits in front of your windshield, blocking all the view.

Surely you would have better things to do than looking for some warning text somewhere...

(For example, you would try to remember quickly what color your car is ;-)))

I thought Elon would just tell everyone to drill in some hood pins.

But I guess trying to do it through software(…?) is even cheaper.

Tesla should recall all their cars because CEO is wearing a pointy hood

Fkn lol. How the fuck are these cars selling?

Although the problem is with the hood latch, as with many Tesla safety recalls, the problem can be fixed with an over-the-air software patch

This is what happens when you run all the car's mechanical and electronic switches though some cheap, sh*tty tablet interface. Instead of directly wiring them to lights on the dashboard.