"Tesla, Porsche, Lucid Have Most Projected Lifetime Recalls; Mini, Lexus and Mercedes, the Least" - Article

[Tooney]

The 25 best and worst cars for shoppers looking to avoid recall-related hassles

Highlights:
Porsche’s Taycan electric car is projected to be the most recalled vehicle
Tesla’s entire model line occupies four of the seven slots for most projected recalls; Lucid is in position 5
Six of the top seven cars with the most projected recalls are EVs
When over-the-air (OTA) recalls are excluded, Tesla drops out of top 25 most recalled list
MINI, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and Audi are among the least recalled cars

“If you’re hoping to avoid recall hassles, you can significantly improve your odds by choosing the right model,” said Karl Brauer, iSeeCars’ Executive Analyst. “A vehicle like the MINI Convertible or Lexus RX 450h has, literally, a fractional chance of being recalled even once, versus more than 60 projected recalls for the Porsche Taycan, Tesla Model Y, and Tesla Model 3. Even the industry median of 3.2 lifetime recalls sounds much better than the approximately 15-plus projected recalls for all of the cars on the most recalled list.”
https://www.iseecars.com/car-recall-study

 

[whitex]

Key thing to note, so many recalls are software, that having OTA updates drops Tesla from 2nd to beyond 25. Maybe this kind of data will finally drive the message home with traditional automakers. ?

 

[Vim Schrotnock]

Pretty stunning really. 22x the median recall rate??

 

[whitex]

Pretty stunning really. 22x the median recall rate??

Software adds a lot of complexity, and each software path is considered a recall in the automotive world (because for most automakers it actually means a dealer visit). I suspect once all automakers get OTA capabilities (those who don't might just perish in the marketplace), we'll stop counting every software update as a recall and the number will drop significantly.

As a side note, I know US and EU governments are considering making OTA capabilities for cars a part of regulatory requirements. This is important not just to reduce the number of dealer visits, but for cybersecurity reasons - having unpatched cars driving around is an ever increasing risk, given the ever increasing capabilities of those cars (the onboard computer able to actually drive a 2 ton piece of steel, also having tons of sensors which can be used for spying, etc).