Tesla Fires - Software Update

[Agschmid]

Pretty cool they can "solve' this problem with a software update to make the car ride higher!

Since the three recent cases of fires in Tesla Model S electric sedans over five weeks, company co-founder and CEO Elon Musk has been on a campaign, telling the Business Insider Ignition conference last week that "there’s definitely not going to be a recall," criticizing the media for its coverage and maintaining that Teslas have a far lower fire risk than gasoline-powered vehicles.

Today, Musk announced that Tesla would make a pair of software updates to the 19,000 Model S sedans on the road and changes to the warranty that he said should help address any concern among customers — and that U.S. auto safety regulators had opened a formal probe into the Model S, one that Musk says Tesla requested to clear the air. Musk's aggressive push back against the coverage of the fires goes against the typical auto industry playbook for dealing with potential safety recalls; automakers often do nothing more than acknowledge cooperation with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration probe, and make a brief announcement if and when a probe leads to a recall.

But as Musk has shown before, Tesla is anything but a typical company.

http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/feds-open-safety-probe-tesla-model-fires-elon-143208818.html

[Warpy]

1. It doesn't seem like they can recall them until they can fix them

It could be something as simple as adding an additional barrier to road salt or as complicated as a complete reprogram/replacement of the electronic innards.

[Glassunion]

2. They are pretty awesome.

They had 3 fires, 2 of which occurred under similar circumstances. They released a SW patch and have asked the DOT to look into the fires.

They have imposed 2 recalls on themselves.

It's like how a company should do business or something.

[Riftaxe]

3. My '79 pinto needed a software update

Oh, well i enjoyed it for a long time anyways.

[Mother Muckraker]

4. The "solution" is no solution at all

Tesla claims to change the ride height, but then says they will offer user adjustable ride height starting Jan 2014. This is nothing more than another piece of misinformation from Musk.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/sns-rt-us-autos-tesla-investigation-20131119,0,572614.story

A software update in January, he added, would give drivers more control over suspension ride height.