Following the announcement of its massive recall plan in China, Tesla apologized to owners and explained the details of the OTA recall in a Q&A format.
Tesla filed a recall plan with China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) and decided to recall a cumulative total of 285,520 vehicles effective immediately, information posted on the SAMR's official website Saturday showed.
The recall involves most vehicles sold by Tesla in China since 2019. It's related to just the vehicle software, though, and the company will provide a fix via OTA.
In a statement posted on Weibo later, Tesla customer support said the company apologized for the inconvenience the recall has caused owners.
"Tesla will continue to improve and enhance safety in strict accordance with national requirements and make every effort to bring an excellent and safe driving experience to our customers," the statement said.
The vehicles included in this recall have safety hazards in extreme situations due to the active cruise control function that may be mistakenly activated by the driver. Tesla has taken the initiative to file a recall plan with the SAMR, the statement said.
Users can complete the recall via OTA remote upgrade without visiting a store. If the vehicle cannot be upgraded via OTA, the Tesla service center will contact the user to upgrade the active cruise control software for the vehicle, the statement said.
Tesla also provided an answer to a frequently asked question. Here is the translated version from CnEVPost.
Q: How do I know if my car is covered by the recall? Are Model S/X vehicles involved?
A: We will notify relevant users via SMS and other means. Users can also call our customer service hotline: 400 910 0707 for more information.
In addition, users can also visit the website dpac.samr.gov.cn and follow the WeChat public account (SAMRDPAC) to inquire by VIN number.
In addition, the issue does not exist in Model S/X, which have different cruise control lever positions and have a very small probability of false activation. This recall is only for Model 3/Y vehicles.
Q: When did the recall start and what did OTA upgrade for the vehicles?
A: The upgrade raises the threshold for activating active cruise and adds reminders for active cruise feature activation and deactivation.
We plan to implement this recall in batches starting the day after the recall notice is issued and will push the upgrade to the relevant users as soon as possible.
Q: What is OTA and how do I upgrade?
A: OTA is the abbreviation of Over-the-air, which refers to the remote software upgrade of the car.
Owners do not need to visit a service center or do anything, Tesla will actively push an updated version of the vehicle software to your vehicle.
When a down arrow is seen in the upper right corner of the vehicle screen, users can connect to a mobile hotspot or WIFI to realize the download and installation of the updated version of the software, and the OTA upgrade of the vehicle can be completed.
Q: Will the OTA cause other problems or fix other issues?
A: The OTA is for the improvement of the "active cruise" function, it will not affect other systems of the vehicle and will not affect the normal use of the vehicle.
In addition, according to the requirements of the regulatory department, we will record all OTA upgrades for the vehicles we have sold, and will also upload the upgrade firmware to the regulatory department.
Q: What does the active cruise feature mean?
A: The active cruise function of Tesla Model 3/Y is turned on by flicking down the right lever once when the vehicle is in D gear.
After the user activates the active cruise function, the vehicle will set the active cruise speed limit according to the "current speed" or "road speed limit" selected by the user, and speed up to the set speed or the same speed as the car in front while maintaining a safe distance from the car in front (the user can choose the size of the distance). The speed limit can be set by toggling up once on the right hand side.
The user can exit the active cruise function by toggling up the right toggle once, or by applying the brake.
Q: What are the changes after OTA upgrade?
A: It raises the threshold value for activating active cruise control and increases the alert method when active cruise control is activated and de-activated.
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