OTA updates sure are a breeze - especially compared to legacy auto.

Even-Fault2873 | 2026-02-18 17:43 | 26 views

Prior to becoming a Tesla household we had a Subaru Outback. It was a solid car, but Tesla just does things so much better. Somehow I still receive emails from Subaru and just received one announcing a new OTA update for that vehicle. The instructions were attached to the email and was a 5 page PDF that detailed the steps to download/install. Most brutal was that the vehicle has to be running and between download and install it could take an hour. They advised staying in the car while it was downloading/installing to monitor progress and for vehicle security. And of course to do outdoors. Gosh we’re spoiled with how Tesla does things. I sure hope legacy auto steps up their game before being left behind.

Comments (6)

chmod-77 2026-02-18 17:48

Years ago I read an interview where Elon said he doesn’t really pay attention to other car companies. He said he just focuses on the best product, not what the competition is doing. After watching legacy slowly innovate only as a last resort I can completely believe Elons comment. Legacy auto innovates as a reaction. Tesla is maximum, proactive innovation.

D1TAC 2026-02-18 17:53

Tesla does it really well with OTA updates. I've had a good amount of cars in the last decade, and each of them with their own OTA issues. Ford Sync 3 as well was piss poor, having to download on a USB then plug the USB in to update. GM was also equally bad up until recently, but still not as smooth as Tesla.

Blazah 2026-02-18 20:44

I still get emails about my honda truck. I haven't owned one for years. I called the local dealership and had to threaten them before they finally removed me from their system about Recalls (they would call around dinner time 3 times a month or so)

Even-Fault2873 2026-02-18 20:56

Luckily I haven’t been slammed with calls from the local dealer - just the odd marketing email or snail mail ad.

Even-Fault2873 2026-02-18 20:58

Yeah just a much simpler and streamlined setup to be able to tap a few buttons in the app and update the vehicle while getting on with other things. I have to wonder how many folks bother to do these rather tedious updates as they aren’t so user friendly. Or how many folks screw it up and end up messing up their vehicle.

Even-Fault2873 2026-02-18 21:01

Sure. Legacy updates are somewhat limited due to various software vendors in the vehicle that don’t play nicely with others. So, building one unified software makes updates so much simpler.

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