Tesla Recalls Almost 13,000 EVs over Risk of Battery Power Loss
136 comments
·October 22, 2025josephcsible
Other automakers have recalls all the time too. Why is it that every single Tesla recall becomes national news, but virtually no recalls by other automakers ever do? (I can only think of two exceptions in recent history: Takata airbags and Chevy Bolt batteries.)
Larrikin
It makes the news here because theres a lot of Tesla drivers and more importantly investors on this site.
Theres always someone complaining about or defending negative Tesla news here for the same reason, but less so because of the drivers.
root_axis
> virtually no recalls by other automakers ever do
That's wrong. There are regularly national news stories about recalls from other car brands. However, you'd still expect to see more Tesla news on HN because of the intersection with tech and startups.
ncr100
Speculating: Perhaps the answer is because Tesla does not respond to Press, much more frequently than other automakers.
- Tesla PR department = { } // the empty set
- CEO drives all external communication (pun intended)
reaperducer
Why is it that every single Tesla recall becomes national news, but virtually no recalls by other automakers ever do? (I can only think of two exceptions in recent history: Takata airbags and Chevy Bolt batteries.)
Maybe you don't read enough legitimate/mainstream media? I see them all the time.
Just yesterday: Ford, Dodge, Nissan among over 1.1 million vehicles recalled - https://www.usatoday.com/story/cars/recalls/2025/10/20/check...
It doesn't get much more "national" than USA Today.
cowsandmilk
+1 Toyota Sienna recall earlier this month was national news and was mentioned on my mother in law’s local news broadcast causing her to call us.
Hacker News seems to post Tesla recalls, but national news websites that publish recalls seem to do it for every single recall, not just Tesla.
gruez
>Just yesterday: Ford, Dodge, Nissan among over 1.1 million vehicles recalled - https://www.usatoday.com/story/cars/recalls/2025/10/20/check...
but how notable was it? In other words was it on the front page either online or in print? The nature of publishing nowadays is that virtually unlimited amounts of articles can be published, but unless you're seeking them out you're not going to stumble upon them like this post.
xboxnolifes
You only stumbled across this post because you are part of the relatively niche community of HN. It is not a sign of notability. At most its a sign of targeting this demographic.
I_dream_of_Geni
They were obviously notable enough....
op00to
What about the Hyundai/Kia antitheft recalls? Those dominated the news for /years/.
You’re not actually asking about media fairness. You’re defending Elon Musk under the usual “everyone’s unfair to Elon” routine. Now think about the difference in public visibility between the Ford CEO and the Tesla CEO. Which one’s name alone drives more clicks and engagement?
Musk injects himself into the news constantly. When you build your brand on publicity, you also get the scrutiny that comes with it. No need to play at the victim narrative.
aranw
I've owned three Audis over the last decade with no recalls
Tesla deliberately pushes boundaries and breaks from tradition. That's admirable, but traditional manufacturers have decades of engineering knowledge behind their approaches for good reasons. Push the envelope enough and you'll have more misses and in Tesla's case more recalls
eblume
A quick search for "Audi recall" shows several recalls this year. Here's the first official link I found: https://www.audiusa.com/en/compliance/takata/
proee
You are making things up out of thin air. These are recalls from JAN 2024- MAR 2025
Ford Motor Company, 94 (7%)
Chrysler (FCA US, LLC), 78 (6%)
Forest River, Inc., 67 (5%)
General Motors, LLC, 41 (3%)
BMW of North America, LLC, 39 (3%)
Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC, 33 (3%)
Hyundai Motor America, 28 (2%)
Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC, 26 (2%)
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., 25 (2%)
Daimler Trucks North America, LLC, 24 (2%)
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.), 24 (2%)
Kia America, Inc., 24 (2%)
Jayco, Inc., 22 (2%)
International Motors, LLC, 21 (2%)
Nova Bus (US) Inc., 21 (2%)
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing, 21 (2%)
Nissan North America, Inc., 20 (2%)
Tesla, Inc., 20 (2%)
Mack Trucks, Inc., 17 (1%)
Winnebago Industries, Inc., 16 (1%)op00to
Ratio of U.S. vehicles recalled in 2024 → 2024 U.S. sales
Tesla: 5,135,991 → 516,597 ≈ 9.94.
Ford: 4,777,161 → 2,078,832 ≈ 2.30.
GM: 1,872,567 → 2,700,000 ≈ 0.69.
Toyota: 1,221,666 → 2,330,000 ≈ 0.52.
Honda: 3,794,113 → 1,291,490 ≈ 2.94.
A Tesla sold in 2024 was roughly 4 times more likely than a Ford to be involved in a recall campaign that year. Despite selling far fewer vehicles, Tesla’s recalls affected nearly ten times its annual U.S. sales volume.
This reflects a structural difference, not media bias. Tesla initiates fewer recall campaigns overall, but those campaigns routinely involve millions of vehicles. When normalized for sales volume, Tesla’s recall exposure is the highest of any major automaker. “Innovation risk” cuts both ways.
I_dream_of_Geni
You beat me to it... lol
spullara
Guess you are constantly dodging them, so lucky.
somerandomqaguy
...... Huh? Kia and Hyundai's recalls for the trailer hitch wiring fire recall made national news. Toyota's recall of the rear view camera issue on the 2025 trucks too.
Granted I'm Canadian so that might make a difference, but Tesla recalls aren't the only one making national new. They just don't typically appear on Hacker News.
ratelimitsteve
y'all ever notice that the internet seems to have introduced entire new classes of fallacy, or at least that the structure of debating online tends to surface fallacies that aren't as common in real life? This is one that I call the redditor fallacy and at its base it's the presumption that if one particular group of people isn't currently talking about something in one particular thread that no one anywhere is talking about it and it's a subtype of whataboutism. The truth is that if I google the phrase "automobile recall" I don't see tesla in the first three pages of results but I do see Ford, GM, Nissan, Dodge and Volkswagen.
discordance
"The recall population includes certain Model Year (“MY”) 2025 Model 3 vehicles manufactured between March 8, 2025, and August 12, 2025, and MY 2026 Model Y vehicles manufactured between March 15, 2025, and August 15, 2025, that are equipped with a battery pack contactor manufactured with InTiCa solenoid."
https://electrek.co/2025/10/22/tesla-recalls-recent-model-3-...
pinkmuffinere
I don't know much about battery packs -- what's the significance of this particular quote?
Meegul
The battery pack contactor is one of the only, if not actually the only, moving pieces in a battery pack. A solenoid connects or disconnects the battery pack from the rest of the car's electronics. In this case, it seems to fail in the open state, meaning the battery was not able to power the car. Either there was simply a bad production batch of these particular solenoids or a change in supplier for this part.
Model Ys still have a separate, standard 12V battery that power many of the car's non-drivetrain related parts. So in this case, the battery pack contactor failing open would cause the car to lose the ability to drive, but the doors/windows/lights/screen would all still likely be working.
reaperducer
one of the only, if not actually the only,
Pet peeve: The phrase is "one of the few," not "one of the only." If something is "only," it can't be "one of" something.
bob1029
What happens in the edge case of losing HV during heavy braking on the freeway? Does the brake booster still function independently of the HV system, or is the driver going to have to push the pedal a lot harder?
bb123
Nothing immediately - Teslas have a both a High Voltage system for the traction battery and a Low Voltage system powered by a separate 12-15V battery. The HV system keeps the LV system charged and most critical safety related functions run on the 12V system. The booster, ABS/ESP, airbags, and steering assist are all designed to remain functional long enough for a controlled stop after an HV disconnection.
You obviously wouldn't be able to speed up again, which depending on the situation, would be where the danger lies.
MrBuddyCasino
Didn‘t they switch to 48V?
guywithahat
Only on the cybertruck, the Y and 3 are still mostly 12v
ferongr
The vacuum reservoir of the brake booster in cars with vacuum servo brakes (whether vacuum is generated by the engine or an electric pump is irrelevant) stores enough energy for 3-4 full applications of the brakes.
avianlyric
EV don’t use vacuum break booster systems anymore. There are much better and more efficient fully electric break booster systems out there which make a lot more sense.
Vacuum break boosters only make sense for ICE vehicles where you already have an existing air pump (the actual engine) providing free “vacuum”, they don’t make sense in EVs where you need to an extra dedicated motor to produce vacuum, to power a vacuum booster system, to boost the breaks. Much better off just using the extra electric motor to directly boost breaks, without the whole vacuum system as a middle man.
Early EVs use vacuum break boosters, but only because they were the only economical solution, given there was little demand for electric break booster systems. After all a vacuum system is cheaper, if you have a free “vacuum source”. But for last decade or so there’s been enough EVs manufactured that electric break booster systems are now more economical for EVs.
To answer GP question, the an electric break booster system is almost certainly powered off the low voltage (12V) accessory system, not the high voltage system. So a high voltage disconnect won’t prevent the break booster from working, assuming the LV battery is working correctly.
bryanlarsen
That's not reassuring. This recall is the exception. The low voltage 12V battery has been far more unreliable in EV's from all brands than the high voltage battery has been.
Is an EV like an ICE in that the 12V bus has power while the car is running even if the 12V battery is dead? In an ICE the alternator puts 13.5 volts onto the 12V bus so a dead battery will prevent a car from starting but it will stay running on a dead battery if boosted to start. I imagine an EV does something similar but I don't know.
pengaru
> EV don’t use vacuum break booster systems anymore. There are much better and more efficient fully electric break booster systems out there which make a lot more sense.
To lecture us on EV brake systems while repeatedly misspelling the word is making me twitch far too early this otherwise fine Wednesday morning.
diabeetusman
It's 3 years old, but this video [1] goes over Tesla's electric brake booster (and its lack of vacuum)
xeromal
The brake booster should have enough pressure for a few seconds of hard braking. They commonly fail on my vehicle (2003 LX470) and most people get a warning during failure and are able to come to a stop during the short few second window.
bilsbie
Steer by wire terrifies me. I guess they have thought through every failure mode?
declan_roberts
I lost power steering once in my car and even THAT was frightening.
ajross
Tesla brakes are conventional. Yes, the driver has to push harder if the hydraulics fail, same as any car. There's nothing unique to the failure here, normal cars run their boosters off of the power train too (via belts or vacuum usually, also some have 12V pumps and would be subject to exactly this kind failure).
As to whether the booster is run off of the 400V or 12V bus I don't actually know. My guess would be the latter, honestly, since the parts would be more generic. But in any case it probably doesn't matter if the main battery fails as the 12V battery is tiny and would probably not provide enough power to run the hydraulics without the DC/DC converter.
xxs
>12V battery is tiny and would probably not provide enough power
LiFePO4 is capable of providing massive amounts of current for its size (way higher than a conventional acid one). 100A is not that high amount of current to run even with 4s4p setup. A 10kg battery would be beyond sufficient (should be able to fully power the brake system for 1h use).
Note: jump on the brakes is expected to consume around 1200W
op00to
LiFePO4 can't really be charged and don't like being discharged below freezing.
Reason077
> "A 10kg battery would be beyond sufficient"
I don't have the exact weight, but Tesla's LFP low-voltage batteries weigh far less than that. Around 2kg at a guess.
Rating is 12.8V nominal, 12Ah, 153.6Wh.
waffletower
Seems really odd to me to have 400V brake regeneration and run the brake booster off of 12V, but quick searches don't reveal the answer for a Tesla or even a Prius.
rconti
Commodity auto industry supply chain parts? 400v is probably way overkill, and dealing with it is more complicated and expensive?
ajross
"Regenerative braking" is a feature implemented by the drive motor and controller, it's got nothing to to with the brakes.
Again, Tesla brakes are very conventional hydraulic devices and they work (and fail) like brakes in any other car you're going to drive.
bouncing_bolete
Interesting timing on this considering the earnings call coming up
georgeecollins
Yeah, typically when you have bad news you want to get it all out at once. I know nothing about Tesla.
giancarlostoro
Considering the battery is such a core component, I don't see why they would waste any time on it once they've realized and narrowed down the issue.
mrguyorama
I don't think a defect with 13k cars is a significant event to a stock that currently is valued based on magic and dreams and possibly geopolitics.
null
waffletower
Why not link an article without a paywall? https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-...
gamblor956
For comparison, the level of seriousness compared to an ICE vehicle: this would be like if the fuel tank stopped working.
rconti
A more apt comparison would be a fuel pump, since fuel tanks don't really stop working short of springing a leak which brings its own problems.
Fuel pump failure is certainly not an uncommon thing, although in my limited experience, they usually become a bit intermittent and the car sputters for awhile, rather than losing all motive power at once (but that's totally possible too).
I am guessing when drive power is lost on an EV it would just coast (hopefully). Since there's effectively no connected battery pack to regen to, and the electric motors won't physically lock up.
mildconcern
Who else thought this post referred to border patrol vehicles?
I try to avoid political news but am apparently failing at some level.
birdman3131
Given that it is a car post Internal Combustion Engine would be my first guess when seeing ICE but I can see where one might think of the other as well.
reaperducer
Who else thought this post referred to border patrol vehicles?
There were millions of Americans who were very confused in 2020 when BLM protests popped up in other parts of the country.
"Why do they hate the Bureau of Land Management?"
daveguy
Is this the kind of battery power loss that prevents you from opening the doors and can trap you in a burning/sinking Tesla?
azinman2
There’s a physical mechanical open mechanism for doors.
CaptainOfCoit
Curious how it worked, I found https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_us/GUID-A7A60DC...
> At the bottom of the rear door pocket, there is a slot in front of the release cover. Slide your finger into the slot and lift to remove the cover. Pull the mechanical release cable forward.
I wonder how people are supposed to be able to find that when in an emergency sitting in the backseat of someone else's car.
SoftTalker
They're in even worse luck if they are in any number of cars that have rear-seat "child safety" locks that prevent opening the door from the inside. There's no way to bypass that except from outside the car.
josephcsible
The front doors have a way easier and more obvious way than the rear doors. In fact, for the front doors it's so obvious that most passengers think it's the normal way to open the door. The reason the rear doors have it much more hidden is because child safety locks are an important safety feature, and they'd be useless if small children could easily bypass them.
wstrange
For the back seats you can order webbing strips from Temu for five bucks. They are easy to spot (bright yellow).
I point them out to any passengers in the back seat.
If you have kids that are likely to pull them ... different story.
hartator
Front doors are just regular handles.
dist-epoch
Rescuers are unable to open the door from outside. I guess its a feature (in a Mad Max world).
https://people.com/woman-dies-after-allegedly-being-trapped-...
https://nypost.com/2025/09/19/world-news/tesla-driver-and-tw...
adrr
I don't have them in my back seats. I had to train my kids to use a glass breakage hammer because Tesla didn't bother to put them on my car.
pengaru
> There’s a hidden physical mechanical open mechanism for doors.
FTFY
josephcsible
It's only hidden for the back doors so that it doesn't render the child safety lock useless. It's in the most obvious spot possible for the front doors.
Rygian
No. It's the other battery.
josephcsible
This question is misleading for the same reason "have you stopped beating your wife?" is. Even if a Tesla loses all power, you can still open the doors with a mechanical handle and escape. Tesla's engineers aren't stupid.
citizenkeen
Oh, so this is an actual recall and not just a software update.
tromp
I would say a hard recall rather than a soft recall (which technically is still an actual recall).
thejazzman
They’ve had multiple non-software recalls
nomel
I wonder how they compare to the rest of the auto manufacturers, in this regard.
andsoitis
> I wonder how they compare to the rest of the auto manufacturers, in this regard.
Most recalls in 2024: Chrysler (72), Ford (67), BMW (36), GM (34), Hyundai (25), Mercedes-Benz (28)
Least: Tesla (16), Mazda (6), Rivian (8), Nissan (18), Toyota (16), Porsche (13)
Another way to look at it is number of people impacted, which changes the "leaderboard". In order of most people to least: Tesla, Chrysler, Ford, Honda, GM, BMW, Kia, Toyota,.... Porsche. Obviously, conflating factor is popularity of brand.
thesuitonym
According to cars.com, the cybertruck has had 8 safety recalls, while the 2024 Ford F-150 Lightning has had 2.
3D30497420
Here's some data: https://datahub.transportation.gov/stories/s/NHTSA-Recalls-b...
If you're looking at the pie chart, Tesla is not shown, but has had 9 in whatever time period and selection criteria is used.
SoftTalker
Interesting. How many physical repair facilities does Tesla have? I can see this creating quite a backlog.
rconti
Well, this is a relatively small recall in automotive terms, so certainly enough to handle this.
pengaru
> Oh, so this is an actual recall and not just a software update.
In an era of software-defined vehicles, the difference is one of convenience, not impact/consequence. Not really worth pointing out, unless you're a service department telling owners how to plan their week.
nilkn
To the contrary, the fact that this is a physical recall is perhaps the most interesting and noteworthy thing about it.
pengaru
Are you hodling TSLA and concerned about the costs? I could see that being interesting...
Sohcahtoa82
The thing is, to most people, "recall" is a strong word that carries major implications.
Yeah, sure, you might be smart enough to understand that the word has a legal definition, and sometimes a recall is an absolute nothingburger. For example, Tesla once had to do a recall because some warning icons on the screen were legally deemed to be a couple pixels too small. Yet, when news outlets announce "Tesla recalls every Model 3 ever made", it's TECHNICALLY true, but will be highly misleading to the general population who now thinks every Model 3 has to be returned.
EDIT: Also, FWIW, even when a recall DOES require a physical change of the car, Tesla's mobile service can often come to you to do it. You don't need to take it to a service center.
Rover222
That’s nonsensical, IMO. Software updates should not be considered recalls at all. Unless it’s a critical safety issue that makes the vehicle unusable.
Reason077
That's exactly what recalls are: important safety issues that need to be fixed, regardless of whether the fix involves hardware or software.
Past Tesla recalls addressed by OTA updates include fixes for braking, steering, headlights, tire pressure monitoring, collision avoidance, etc...
AlexandrB
> software-defined vehicles
I threw up in my mouth a little upon reading this phrase. Dark times.
squigz
I came here to check this. I find it extremely annoying how often we hear about "massive recalls" that are really just OTA updates.
dist-epoch
As Musk would say - if 10% of your rockets (cars) do not blow up (are not recalled), it means you made them too robust.
rconti
There's a fight club reference in here somewhere....
engineer_22
might be a kernel of truth to that
blinding-streak
On the topic of recalls in general. An old buddy of mine in the auto industry believed that legacy automakers would do bogus or superfluous recalls on occasion just to get people back into the dealership. Where sales people could mosey into the service area and talk to the folks with older cars.
No hard evidence for it, but it did make me think. (I don't think this applies to Tesla)
https://archive.ph/RDhGj