NHTSA asks Tesla to recall 158,000 [now 135,000] vehicles for eMMC failure. Voluntary Recall issued

[Cheburashka]

U.S. asks Tesla to recall 158,000 vehicles for touchscreen failures


Wow. I guess Tesla saw this coming and started offering the goodwill fix.

"NHTSA added that “during our review of the data, Tesla provided confirmation that all units will inevitably fail given the memory device’s finite storage capacity.”

 

[glide]

The first of many spankings Tesla has coming their way.

I wonder what other OTA fixes the NHTSA will deem “procedurally and substantively insufficient”?

 

[nantahala]

I’ve an affected mcu in my MS 2017, anyone expect Tesla to offer a discounted MCU2 upgrade rather than just fixing the old mcu??

 

[Fortune]

Curious what their response is going to be first... Second, wonder what that means for us that did the MCU2 upgrade as a workaround/permanent fix.

 

[CRASHER]

MCU in my 2017 MS already replaced once with refurb. MCU1, which is actually worse than the one they replaced. I have been scheduled to come in, but will postpone my appointment due to pandemic. Hopefully things will improve before the warranty expires.

 

[Jhandy800]

So what does this mean? Will they have to replace the mcu1’s running hw3?

 

[studioloft]

Finally!

Presently the "Warranty Adjustment Service Advisory" that us affected users have faced states that they will upgrade the 8GB eMMC to a 64GB eMMC (flash module in the MCU). My MCU reboots constantly and frequently loses audio notifications while using autopilot (lane changes without a ding to notify me - no turn signal sounds too).

I took my car in for this eMMC replacement but my SC refused to replace it as there is apparently a prompt that needs to be displayed by my car for them to do so.

My best is this recall just forces them to replace the eMMC instead of relying on whatever software update to identify it as an issue.

 

[bktiger86]

It will really be interesting to see how they will fix it. Tesla has 2 weeks to respond.

 

[ucmndd]

It will really be interesting to see how they will fix it. Tesla has 2 weeks to respond.

They’ll do the recall and give everyone the new Tegra board with the bigger chip.

say it costs them $500/car, even the full 158,000 cars costs them less than $80 million. No big deal.

 

[jaqueh]

Battery gate next?

 

[cduzz]

I wonder how they'll manage this. From a logistical perspective dribbling the fix out over the course of years is a much easier supply chain to manage; you fix a couple thousand, refurbish them, send those out an take in the dead ones and refurbish those, and you can churn through all of them in 7-10 years.

If you need to be able to fix all of them in a timely manner you need a much larger pool of replacement parts, which likely means an entire new run of a large number of parts, and if you don't have volume *production* of some of the important components, you're now in a deep hole and have relatively few good options. I'm not sure what the supply chain looks like for all the necessary components, but it could get ugly.

Imagine if aliens came to earth and asked for 156,000 Nokia E51 phones; it wouldn't be easy...

 

[OrbiterTI4]

I guess I've timed this poorly then, since I have a pre-emptive replacement scheduled for next week (worked the same time as my leaking center screen, to save on the labor).

 

[ucmndd]

Battery gate next?

That’s the one they’re saving the “lol nothanks bye” letter for.

 

[ucmndd]

I wonder how they'll manage this.

I’m sure if they want they’d be able to propose a Takata-like recall process that starts with the oldest cars and works their way forward over the next 2-3 years or so. I suspect 7-10 years is out of the question because it’s clear at this point few if any will actually last that long.

 

[cduzz]

I’m sure if they want they’d be able to propose a Takata-like recall process that starts with the oldest cars and works their way forward over the next 2-3 years or so. I suspect 7-10 years is out of the question because it’s clear at this point few if any will actually last that long.

Right but if they want to process these in any sort of volume, as I suspect is the expectation, they'll need a large bucket of MCUs on hand. I suspect they don't actually have that many "spare" MCUs.

Maybe / hopefully these were sourced with care and there is some warehouse / factory out there that has or can make every single ASIC / chip needed for making these boards. I'll assume that tesla will skip actually qualifying them if / when there are any substitutions. If that's the case they can just ask their vendors to spit up a bunch of spare MCUs ship them out to the service centers and then just schedule it in the same queue as the aluminum bolts on my steering column or the takata airbag in my car (recalls serviced in my car after I bought it from tesla used 18 months ago)

But I suspect there's as much of a possibility that some of the components will be harder to source. I'm glad this isn't my problem (except that of course, I'll be wanting one of these for my dementia riddled 90D that forgets its a car for 30-300 seconds every time I get in it to drive it somewhere...)

 

[ucmndd]

Right but if they want to process these in any sort of volume, as I suspect is the expectation, they'll need a large bucket of MCUs on hand. I suspect they don't actually have that many "spare" MCUs.

Maybe / hopefully these were sourced with care and there is some warehouse / factory out there that has or can make every single ASIC / chip needed for making these boards. I'll assume that tesla will skip actually qualifying them if / when there are any substitutions. If that's the case they can just ask their vendors to spit up a bunch of spare MCUs ship them out to the service centers and then just schedule it in the same queue as the aluminum bolts on my steering column or the takata airbag in my car (recalls serviced in my car after I bought it from tesla used 18 months ago)

But I suspect there's as much of a possibility that some of the components will be harder to source. I'm glad this isn't my problem (except that of course, I'll be wanting one of these for my dementia riddled 90D that forgets its a car for 30-300 seconds every time I get in it to drive it somewhere...)

I wonder where/how they sourced the “new” boards with 64GB chips they’re using for replacements - if they are actually refurbishing them from failed parts or they found some way for a run of new boards.

I kinda assumed the latter based on all the reports 6-12 months ago of replacement MCUs ending up in dumpsters behind the service centers (complete with customer data still on them) - they didn’t seem to be particularly careful or meticulous about saving the old cores.

 

[GoCubsGo72]

We owe the NHTSA a drink! At least 10 times between speaking with Tesla and/or taking it in for service. They keep telling us they fixed the issue or we need to wait because there a software fix coming. It’s been over a year. We can’t access anything from the touchscreen: no back-up camera, AC, heat, radio, etc. When it does work, it’s a 30 second delay before the screen changes.

Forget the fact that we paid $130k for our X P100D, try having to drive your infant around in a car where the A/C and Heat are uncontrollable or the lack of safety because your back-up camera doesn’t work.

We can’t believe we turned on so many people onto Tesla. We were there for Tesla, but Tesla hasn’t been there for us.

 

[aerodyne]

Battery gate next?

Unlikely. I will settle for new control arms...

 

[MP3Mike]

So what does this mean? Will they have to replace the mcu1’s running hw3?

My best is this recall just forces them to replace the eMMC instead of relying on whatever software update to identify it as an issue.

NHTSA didn't even suggest what the recall should entail. So Tesla could just make the current software update a recall, mail a bunch of notices to install the software and call it done. NHTSA might not be happy about that, and may push for more. Which could be a software update that implements a better fail-safe mode, or could be the Tegra daughterboard replacement.

 

[aerodyne]

They’ll do the recall and give everyone the new Tegra board with the bigger chip.

say it costs them $500/car, even the full 158,000 cars costs them less than $80 million. No big deal.

I hope so, but other recalls, like many from other mfgs (Airbags), and the Tesla steering gear bolts, have taken years.