Tesla had quite an eventful 2024. Its radical (bad) Cybertruck had its first full year on sale, which resulted in a seemingly endless supply of hilarious and innovative new ways to break and fail. Its CEO Elon Musk made political waves, and the company unveiled its two-seat driverless taxi, among other things. In 2024 Tesla’s annual sales declined for the first time in over a decade, but one number that didn’t decline was the number of its vehicles affected by recalls. The EV company recalled the highest number of vehicles of any automaker last year, with a grand total of 5,135,991. It didn’t issue the most recalls though, as Stellantis holds that crown, but the 16 recalls Tesla did issue affected a larger number of vehicles than any other car company last year.
Tesla fans are a very impassioned bunch of folks, and they often like to minimize the severity of the recalls that their favorite car company issues as they’re frequently amended by over-the-air software updates. While that’s a significantly more convenient fix than forcing over 5 million people to bring their car into a dealership for new parts, it doesn’t change the fact that the recalls were issued because over 5 million cars failed to meet federal regulations. The largest recall that Tesla issued last year affected over 2 million cars for incorrect font sizing on warning lights. The company’s problem child, the Cybertruck, faced seven separate recalls last year, including one that addressed poorly secured accelerator pedal trim that would trap the nearly 7,000-pound rolling stainless steel triangle’s gas pedal to the floor, unleashing all 845 horsepower at once.
Unsurprisingly, Stellantis and Ford came in second and third place respectively on the list of companies with the most cars recalled in 2024, both with nearly 4.8-million cars recalled. Honda was fourth, recalling nearly 3.8 million cars, followed by General Motors at 1.87 million, and BMW in sixth for recalling 1.83 million cars. Stellantis issued the most recalls in 2024 with a grand total of 72, followed closely by Ford with 67 recalls. BMW came in third, but by a comparatively huge margin, issuing 36 recalls. Tesla only issued 15 recalls, but they affected a significant number of vehicles. To see if your car has any open recalls, check out the NHTSA website.
