this post was submitted on 13 Dec 2023
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This is one of those strange terms where "recalling" is somehow the official term for a software update that can be sent over the air and applied remotely.
Not physically recalled
To be fair, when talking about a control system that moves tons of metal feet away from bystanders these sorts of safety critical systems should be given a level of weight greater than that given to Candy Crush.
While may always be improvements to such software, it’s not a trivial matter to get it wrong.
I understand that, but the misuse of the word "recall" is archaic and I'm pretty sure specific to only the auto industry.
Phones don't get recalled for software updates.
I think it is to mean a mandatory update that fixes a core/safety system, and the wording is some legal thing relating to when such an issue would have to be fixed by a mechanic in a garage. Likely to fit around existing insurance documents and laws, without having to get those reworded.
But "recall" means
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/recall
I just want to clarify that this update isn't actually a recall. It a "car recall", which in this case is just a software update.
A recall is the legally defined process to address a safety issue. From NTSHA’s documentation.
There was a safety issue and it was addressed by the manufacturer: huzzah!
Even physical mechanical changes don’t usually require the car to go back to the factory, they’re often addressed as part of routine maintenance.
The term may feel misleading, but it exists and is used in a specific context.
It doesn't feel misleading, it is misleading. We understand that use of the term "recall" in reference to cars happens to include over the air software updates in its legal definition. However many people likely do not. I'd also wager that many people who do know occasionally forget when they first see the headline. So while the use of the word "recall" here is technically correct it leads people to assume that they are physically recalling the cars.
Long ago "drive" meant urging an animal to move forward. And "dialing" a phone number meant entering the "digits" by turning a rotary dial with your digits.
Words aren't as static as you seem to think.
Yeh, but all of those are currently defined by dictionaries in that regard.
A software update delivered over-the-air, with no end user interaction, without having to move the car is not in the dictionary definitions of the word "recall".
The dictionary definition says "return item to company"
Except these things do require action for a lot of people. Their is a good reason why Tesla was required to send out mail to all effected customers.
This may come as a shock to you, but not all people have their cars connected to the internet. While it varies by network, about 30% of the US by area does not even have cell service, and the parts that do can be unreliable, especially if there is a big garage door between you and the tower. And this is the US, Canada is even more rural.
Some people might have also purposely disconnected their vehicles from the cell network, maybe because of evidence that Tesla employees were making highlight reels of customers from the in car camera footage.
In either of these or more cases, an update requires active work and steps to resolve. Indeed there is a reason Tesla has to provide technicians who can come out to their customers address to apply it free of charge. The same language and laws apply to every other auto manufacturer on our shared roads.
An autopilot safety issue is a core/safety system issue...
I'm not disputing that.
I'm saying that "recall" in this case does not mean physically returning the vehicle, contrary to the dictionary definition of the word.
The dictionary definition, which also includes one for remembering information that does not require any physical movement, is not the same thing as a vehicle recall. A vehicle recall is about implementing fixes, which have traditionally required being serviced in a physical location even for software upgrades, but there is no reason to have a new word just because the fix can be made remotely. It isn't like the thing that they are doing is any different than being recalled to a dealership for them to install the software updates.
Do you think phone calls should be renamed for cell phones because they don't use physical land line connections?
Should electric cars be called something other than cars because they run on electricity instead of fossil fuels?
Who cares where the car is when the recall fix is implemented? It is still a vehicle recall, just handled remotely.
Yeah everyone freaks out about all these 'recalls' when it's just a software push