The addition of software to vehicles was a very good thing for a few years. Cars were now able to connect better to the “outside” world, with cameras that allowed for better and more efficient parking and cables that enabled a faster connection between pedals and actions. But now most of the technology upgrades are coming at an increasingly fast pace and it is quite hard to ensure that all of them work, leading to a lot of manufacturing defects, recalls and angry customers. One of the manufacturers that have had to recall one of their models is Nissan, who, at the behest of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is pulling back thousands of vehicles.
Most modern recalls are thankfully not threatening to consumers, as most of them have to do with malfunctioning of a connector that, although important, it is not essential to the functioning of the car, or a software update or patch that will improve the functioning of the car but will not impact driving in a significant way. In the case of Nissan, this last recall affects almost 80,000 vehicles and is due to a software hiccup that is causing rearview cameras to go dark when the car is in reverse.
The Nissan recall, one more in the long list of issues with the company
While many may think that just because the camera does not work as it should a recall is not necessarily the best course of action. We would like to emphasize that recalls do not mean catastrophic failure, it is a universal term that is used to tell owners that they must visit a dealership to get a problem taken care of and that the solution is free for them.
Additionally, as car manufacturers push out newer, tech-packed models, issues with software are becoming more and more common, so most recalls have to do with that and not with faulty brakes or airbag inflators. The problem with this Nissan recall is that, even thought the camera seems to be the main manifestation of the problem, the root of it centers around the dashboard infotainment system. It is the central hub that controls everything from the air conditioning to calls and media and if the problem is not fixed, it may affect other parts of the car that might be even more dangerous to drivers and pedestrians.
We say this because the camera might seem inconsequential, after all we have all learned how to park with mirrors and we should still use them and not just as an aid, but as the main tool, but nowadays cars are built with the assumption that the camera is operational and thus there can be a lot of blind spots that, if your cameras stop functioning, you will not be able to accurately see.
Since this is important and it violates safety standards set by U.S. regulators, making a recall unavoidable. EVs, self-driving tech, and touchscreens have changed the automation world completely, and as much as these upgrades are supposed to improve the driving experience, they are also introducing new failure points that drivers are barely equipped to handle, as, by the time one issue is solved and standardized another one pops up that is completely different. Then, to make matters worse, the first issue gets a revamp and we are back at square one.
Nissan is just one of the companies that is having trouble with their cameras, many manufacturers have gone through the same problem lately, as with the rush to get the latest tech flaws get overlooked and cars get out of the factory with buggy code that then needs to be patched once owners get their new vehicles on the road.