Is it time for a new term? It may be correct but it also seems to be profoundly misunderstood by many.

You're welcome to go lobby congress to change it. But it is a legal requirement to say "recall", because that is the explicitly named power that they have been given by congress.

Is it a legal requirement to be ambiguous in the article title?

Simply qualifying the overloaded term as "software recall" would suffice.

Never happens though.

The last physical recall I had to take a car in was to have a zip tie affixed to some line or wire to minimize the chance of wear over time.

Should we have a separate term for "a recall that isn't related to losing control of the vehicle and crashing"?

It sounds bad to associate my car needing a zip tie to minimize wear with your car needing a software patch to not crash.

nope, just "software recall" and "hardware recall" terms.

that way you know whether to make sure you got the update or know to take the car in physically.

severity for both can differ, that's what the details are for.

Those aren't good alternatives unless the point is to also overload "hardware" and "software".

A software recall can require bringing the vehicle in physically. That happened with Rivian's update recall in 2023. Likewise, there are hardware recalls that don't involve taking the vehicle in physically, like the Kia immobilizer recall that involved them mailing a lock bar to certain customers.

those are still hardware issues.

if you can't fix it via a software update, it's hardware.

not a hard concept to grasp.

you aren't overloading those words as "recall" is in the phrase.

The Rivian recall (and ones I've been a part of myself) have been software updates. Not all software updates can be applied remotely in automotive, particularly when things go wrong. Sometimes you'll need to unseal casings to access a recovery port, for example.

And the Kia recall was an example of a hardware recall that didn't require the owner to visit a shop. Both are possible, so trying using software and hardware to differentiate between shop visits is overloading the terms.

Nah, the term is correct. That Musk and his fan boys can't handle the exact same word being used for their car as is used for anything else is their issue.