NHTSA Complaint #11586433 — 2018 TESLA MODEL 3

My 2017 Tesla Model 3 was unable to be successfully updated with the OTA firmware update remedy in compliance with NHTSA Recall No. 23V-838. The Tesla Service Advisor claims the computer is the cause of the failure and needs to be replaced at an estimated cost of $2,740.28 because it is no longer covered under warranty. Tesla replaced the original computer with Autopilot Hardware 3.0 at its discretion and expense in 2020, presumably to enable full FSD functionality as the FSD option was part of the original purchase. The computer controls all driving functions of the vehicle without fault and successfully communicates with the Tesla server so the diagnosis that it is defective and the cause of the OTA update failure, as opposed to a "buggy" software update, is highly suspect. Independently verifying the validity of Tesla's diagnosis is not possible given the proprietary nature of such work. In response to my query about the uniqueness of this problem, the Tesla Service Adviser admitted that other customers have paid to have their vehicle computers replaced for this same reason which, if true, is most troubling. It leads me to believe that Tesla is using the safety recall to exploit and profit from unwitting customers for an expensive and unnecessary fix when the root problem is an inadequately written firmware patch.