Vehicle recalls are changing in a software-defined industry

Vehicle recalls frequently make headlines. On 26 February 2025, a report by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) caused Tesla to recall collectively more than 376,000 Model 3s and Model Ys due to a steering assist issue. The automaker is no stranger to safety concerns—the previous year, 5.1 million of its vehicles were recalled in the US, though these were primarily fixed with over-the-air (OTA) updates instead of physically at dealerships.

Tesla is certainly not alone. For 2024, NHTSA noted that more than 27 million vehicles were recalled, with models from Honda, Stellantis and General Motors among the most numerous. At the same time, the overall quantity of recalls fell 18% year-on-year, and individual brands—Ford’s total number of vehicles recalled were half what it recorded in 2022 (8.7 million)—are making progress. For all intents and purposes, OEMs are winning the war for quality.