The headline is perfectly clear and is not using language in a new way. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issues recalls for safety related issues. The way the manufacture resolves the issues can differ.
Sure, you're technically correct, but when the average person reads "recall" they typically assume something very different. Doubly so since this isn't even a bug fix, just a new requirement to add additional safety checks above and beyond the ones already there.
There's no reason the headline couldn't have read something like "Tesla Issues Software Update at Request of NHTSA", which would be less likely to confuse the average reader, but also less attention-grabbing.
If the average user on HN needs an explanation that a word in a title actually has a completely different effective meaning, I'd say that it is unlikely to be a clear title.
In this case, the goal is using the industry standard term to refer to a specific action defined under U.S. law. It’s called a recall because that’s the term used by the legislation delegated to the NHTSA by the Congress:
The only confusion I see on this point is from people who based on their history appear to be Tesla fans and presumably are letting their loyalties to the company trigger a defensive reaction.
I actually dont think this article/headline is that egregious. But in general anything having to do with Musk/Tesla is going to be put in a negative light. And I think we all know why. Election season, twitter ownership, etc etc.
Elon is a cringey based edgelord, accelerated the decline of their favorite platform (Twitter), re-platforms and signal boosts people/grifters with dangerous ideas, and all of that outweighs, in their estimation, whatever good will he earned with Tesla/SpaceX in the prior decade.
Oh, he’s also a generationally wealthy South African.
They’re on one side of the culture war, he’s (newly?) on the other.
They want him stripped of influence. Or maybe they’re just really big fans of Kia and Volkswagen, dunno.
nickthegreek|2 years ago
NickM|2 years ago
There's no reason the headline couldn't have read something like "Tesla Issues Software Update at Request of NHTSA", which would be less likely to confuse the average reader, but also less attention-grabbing.
sickofparadox|2 years ago
acdha|2 years ago
https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/documents/unders...
The only confusion I see on this point is from people who based on their history appear to be Tesla fans and presumably are letting their loyalties to the company trigger a defensive reaction.
rgbrgb|2 years ago
trident5000|2 years ago
jondwillis|2 years ago
Elon is a cringey based edgelord, accelerated the decline of their favorite platform (Twitter), re-platforms and signal boosts people/grifters with dangerous ideas, and all of that outweighs, in their estimation, whatever good will he earned with Tesla/SpaceX in the prior decade.
Oh, he’s also a generationally wealthy South African. They’re on one side of the culture war, he’s (newly?) on the other.
They want him stripped of influence. Or maybe they’re just really big fans of Kia and Volkswagen, dunno.
yallneedtoget|2 years ago
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