Tesla ‘massive recall’ in China is as ridiculously simple as adding a chime when activating cruise control

If you have been following the news about Tesla, you mostly likely heard that the automaker is subject to a “massive recall” of all the vehicles produced in China.

The “recall” involves a simple over-the-air software update. Yes, but the software update is to fix a “major safety issue,” says the media.

In fact, the whole thing is about a simple change to activating Tesla’s cruise control.

The recall was first reported by the Wall Street Journal with the headline, “Tesla Addresses Safety Issue in More Than 285,000 Vehicles in China.”

They describe the problem in the article:

The recall of the US company’s automobiles came after an investigation into possible defects, which found that their cruise-control system could be accidentally activated and potentially result in an unexpected speed increase, the regulator said.

What the publication doesn’t clarify is that there weren’t really any “possible defects.”

Based on the actual over-the-air software “fix” being pushed to vehicles right now, it looks like Tesla simply changed the way cruise control is activated, as some users were activating it without realizing it.

In the Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, you simply press down on the right hand stalk on the steering wheel to activate traffic-aware cruise control.

Based on the vehicles first receiving the software update, the “recall” is as simple as adding a sound to indicate that the vehicle is in cruise control.

Previously, Tesla only had a chime after a double press of the stalk to activate Autopilot.

Electrek’s Take

Well, this got a little out of hand. Look at the press coverage:

“Huge recall,” “Autopilot software,” “safety issue,” when we are talking about adding a sound to activating cruise control.

I hate to repeat myself, but this is another situation where a PR team would have helped the news make its way more efficiently from China to the global media.

Instead of the story being, “Tesla forced to recall hundreds of thousands of vehicles in China over safety concerns,” it would have been, “Tesla adds chime to cruise control.”

But ultimately, this is not a bad update. It happened to me a few times and a chime would help.