Remote software updates (Over-the-Air - OTA) are becoming a solution applied by many car companies to fix errors and add features to vehicles. However, in reality, not all errors can be completely handled online, as many recall campaigns still require car owners to take their cars to dealerships to complete repairs.
According to the annual report on recall activities in 2025 of the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the number of vehicles fixed for errors through OTA continues to increase. In 2025, about 4.4 million vehicles under recall campaigns have been fully or partially repaired by remote software updates.
Remote updates help car manufacturers shorten the processing time for some software errors without car owners having to take their vehicles to service workshops. This is also a development trend of connected cars and electric cars, when many systems on the car can receive updates via internet connection.
However, OTA is not a solution for every case.
For example, a recall of about 4,400 luxury SUVs in the US was deployed due to software errors in the gearbox controller. According to the manufacturer's announcement, this error can cause the gearbox to be damaged in certain operating conditions, leading to loss of power transmission or leakage of gearbox oil, increasing the risk of car fire if encountering a source of fire. The remedy is to update software for the gearbox controller directly at the dealership.
Previously, another recall campaign with a scale of more than 591,000 vehicles in the US also stemmed from a software error of the digital instrument cluster. According to documents sent to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the error may cause the display screen to stop working after a period of use, making the driver unable to track important information such as speed or warning lights. Depending on the case, the remedy is to update the software or replace the instrument cluster at the dealer.
The above cases show that the fact that an error originates from software does not mean that it can be completely fixed by OTA. Depending on the design of each car model and the affected system, the manufacturer may request the vehicle to be inspected, updated or repaired directly at the dealer.
The NHTSA report also shows that OTA is becoming an important method in the troubleshooting operations of car manufacturers, but this is a repair method, not replacing the recall process when the vehicle has safety-related errors. In fact, a recall campaign can still use OTA to fix if technical conditions permit, or require the car owner to take the car to the dealer if it is necessary to check and update directly.
Along with the development of electric vehicles and connected cars, the application scope of OTA is forecast to continue to expand. However, through recent examples, the role of the dealer system is still very important in handling errors that cannot be completely fixed through remote updates.
