Two U.S. senators have written to Elon Musk, Tesla’s prime government, calling on him to “swiftly” recall any steering and suspension components that pose a security threat.
The letter cites “an alarming” Reuters investigation printed on December 20 that uncovered how Tesla has blamed drivers for frequent failures of elements it has lengthy recognized had been faulty.
“We write with excessive concern following latest reporting about Tesla’s information of security flaws in its automobiles and concealment of the causes of those flaws from the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration,” states the letter, which is signed by Senators Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut, and Edward J. Markey, of Massachusetts.
The senators name on Musk to right “obvious false and deceptive representations” made to the protection company.
The Reuters report discovered that Tesla instructed NHTSA and prospects that the frequent failures of faulty components in its electrical automobiles had been attributable to driver “abuse,” resembling hitting a curb. In 2020, Tesla gave that rationalization in a letter to the protection company explaining why it will not recall a suspension half known as the aft hyperlink in america, regardless of having simply recalled it in China.
Tesla paperwork reviewed by Reuters present the automaker’s engineers for years tracked frequent failures of aft hyperlinks and different suspension, steering and axle components, usually on comparatively new automobiles. The corporate instructed its service managers to inform prospects that the components weren’t defective because it struggled to comprise hovering guarantee prices, the data reviewed by Reuters present.
“We’re disturbed that you’d blame your prospects for these failures,” said the letter from Blumenthal and Markey, each Democrats. “It’s unacceptable that Tesla wouldn’t solely try to shift the duty for the substandard high quality of its automobiles to the individuals buying them, but additionally make that very same flawed argument to NHTSA.”
Musk and Tesla didn’t instantly reply to requests for touch upon the senators’ letter.
After this text was printed, Tesla posted a response to the Reuters investigation on Musk’s social media platform, X, previously referred to as Twitter. The automaker stated the article’s headline – “Tesla blamed drivers for failures of components it lengthy knew had been faulty” – was “wildly deceptive” and stated the story “is riddled with incomplete and demonstrably incorrect info.”
Tesla stated its “buyer retention is among the many greatest and highest within the business” and the corporate “is truthful and clear with our security regulators across the globe and any insinuation in any other case is obvious mistaken.”
The automaker additionally challenged one buyer’s account that the suspension on his 2023 Mannequin Y collapsed at some point after he purchased the automotive. Tesla stated its “telemetry” knowledge confirmed there was a previous “crash that resulted on this restore not being coated by guarantee.” The proprietor instructed Reuters he was the one one who drove the automotive earlier than the suspension failure and hadn’t had an accident.
Sweden’s Transport Company stated on Friday that it is investigating suspension failures in Tesla automobiles. The inquiry is just like one being carried out in neighboring Norway, the place the Norwegian Public Roads Administration stated final week it was wanting into client complaints about decrease rear management arms breaking on its Mannequin S and X automobiles.
Markey and Blumenthal have beforehand raised issues about Tesla’s advertising and marketing practices and the protection of its automated driving expertise.
In April, the senators wrote to Musk questioning him about one other Reuters investigation, which reported that teams of Tesla staff had circulated, through an inside messaging system, personal and generally extremely invasive recordings from prospects’ automotive cameras.
