Hey Iowa, If You Own a Tesla…Go Get it Fixed ASAP

To be fair, this isn't strictly for Iowans only. If anyone in the United States owns a Tesla, they need to go get it fixed. Elon Musk and his brother Kimbal Musk will have nearly every Tesla sold in America recalled.

Entrepreneur, Elon Musk, Tesla's biggest shareholder owns a 12.95% stake in the Tesla company, according to NASDAQ, and has a net worth of roughly $244 billion. I don't know much of anything when it comes to investing but I'm curious if this recall will end up lowering Tesla stock. If Tesla does take a dip in price, maybe we should buy some! Isn't the old verbiage buy low, sell high? It'll surely come back up... won't it?

I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens after this. Tesla is recalling nearly every vehicle sold in the U.S.

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What's the Deal with Tesla?

According to AP News, there are around 2 million Teslas in the U.S. and nearly all of them need fixing. The vehicles need a software update and there is currently a defective system that is used to ensure drivers are paying attention when using the autopilot feature.

The new update will "increase warnings and alerts to drivers and even limit the areas where the basic version of Autopilot can operate." This recall has finally been announced after a two-year investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which involved multiple crashes, and some of those crashes were deadly.

According to AP News, this investigation found that Autopilot's method of ensuring drivers are still paying attention can be "inadequate" and can lead to misuse of the system. Here's how the Tesla's Autopilot is supposed to work. It's supposed to be used more as a "driver assistance system" as opposed to a completely hands-free system.

Tesla Disagrees

According to NY Mag, Teslas will voluntarily recall the vehicles and implement changes to its software. However, they do not agree with the NHTSA's analysis. Tesla Models Y, S, 3, and X will all be recalled, unless they don't carry the autopilot system. In 2019, there were a reported 736 crashes while a Tesla was in autopilot mode and the number has greatly increased since.

Tesla appears to have issues around motorcycles as well. 4 motorcyclists have been killed since 2019 and 17 of the autopilot crashes have been fatal.

The software update will add additional driver monitoring to Tesla's current system.

Opinion

Maybe I'm just old school but I'm not a huge fan of having a car drive for me. This may sound weird but follow me here...

There's a quote from a Harry Potter book that I've adapted into my day-to-day life. "Never trust anything that can think for itself if you can't see where it keeps its brain." - J.K Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Having a car in Autopilot scares the crap out of me. Computers need updates and bug fixes all the time. I don't like the idea of a computer malfunctioning as I'm driving 70 mph on i380.

Of course there are safety issues with Tesla's autopilot. Who would've seen that coming? Who could've guessed humans would abuse a driver assistance program and go ahead thinking they can take a nap, eat, text, and do all of the other distracting things we should never do while driving?