Do you have any idea how many big recalls are issued every year?
Everyone panic, Tesla has issued a safety recall for an epic number of vehicles in China! That’s about the tone of many media reports on the recall issued by Tesla in the Middle Kingdom recently. And while it involves one million cars, with how fast and furious recalls come out these days (including ones of similar size), as well as the gross size of the Chinese population, it’s hardly an earth-shattering story compared to the amount of pearl clutching going on.
Find out how much a dented bumper cost a Rivian owner here.
In case you haven’t noticed lately, and by lately I mean for at least the last year and a half, Elon Musk is public enemy number one of the corporate media. I’m certainly no Musk acolyte, having dished a fair amount of criticism his way in the past, but this has become ridiculous. Stories trying to make him look bad come out in droves literally every day, many of them reaching the point of absolute obsession.
Like most recalls involving Teslas, this one doesn’t require a visit to one of the service centers but instead can be corrected through a simple over-the-air update. That means owners don’t have to do anything, the car just downloads and installs the fix while it’s parked and off.
The recall does have to do with the brakes, which at first blush sounds deadly serious. After all, defective brakes have caused fatal accidents, and that’s what many outlets are hoping you think when they drop that in the headline. If you bother to read further into the article, which most people don’t, you learn the problem is that some users can’t adjust the settings on the regenerative braking system. And while that can be a safety concern, it’s not as bad as you probably would initially conclude.
I’m not saying Tesla’s great or the future of the industry. While some believe that’s the case and they’re certainly entitled to believe that, others who used to talk that way are now eager to point out its every foible all because they seethe with hatred for Musk. But when the whole of corporate media starts acting in lockstep to tell you to hate a certain person or group of people, that’s when truly critical thinkers start questioning why that would be.
Everyone can and should take the time to thoughtfully draw their own conclusions on the topic while the daily stories attacking every last detail about Musk are splashed about.
Images via Tesla
