A number of Tesla electrical automobiles are parked in entrance of a Tesla service heart within the Kearny Mesa space, in San Diego, California, United States, October 31, 2023.
Abhiroop Roy | Reuters
Two US Senators wrote to Elon Musk, TeslaThe corporate’s high govt calls on him to “shortly” recall any steering and suspension elements that pose a security threat.
The letter cites a “troubling” Reuters investigation printed on December 20 that exposed how Tesla blamed drivers for frequent failures of parts it had lengthy identified to be faulty.
“We write with nice concern following latest stories that Tesla knew about security defects in its automobiles and hid the causes of those defects from the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration,” mentioned the letter signed by Senators Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Edward J. Markey, from Massachusetts.
The senators are calling on Musk to right the “clearly false and deceptive statements” offered to the security company.
The Reuters report discovered that Tesla advised NHTSA and prospects that frequent failures of faulty elements in its electrical automobiles have been attributable to driver “abuse,” resembling hitting a curb. In 2020, Tesla offered this clarification in a letter to the security company explaining why a suspension half known as the rear linkage had not been recalled in the US, although it had simply been recalled in China.
Tesla paperwork reviewed by Reuters present that the automaker’s engineers have for years tracked recurring failures in rear linkages and different suspension, steering and axle elements, typically in comparatively new automobiles. Data reviewed by Reuters confirmed that the corporate instructed its service managers to inform prospects that elements weren’t faulty whereas it struggled to comprise excessive guarantee prices.
“We’re disturbed that you’re blaming your purchasers for these failures,” mentioned the letter from Blumenthal and Markey, each Democrats. “It’s unacceptable that Tesla not solely tries to shift accountability for the substandard high quality of its automobiles to the individuals who purchase them, but additionally makes the identical false argument to the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration.”
Musk and Tesla didn’t instantly reply to requests for touch upon the senators’ letter. Neither of them responded to detailed questions from Reuters in regards to the investigation carried out on December 20.
The Swedish Transport Company mentioned on Friday it was investigating suspension system failures in Tesla automobiles. The investigation is much like one carried out in neighboring Norway, the place the Norwegian Public Roads Administration mentioned final week it was trying into client complaints about damaged rear decrease management arms on its Mannequin S and
Markey and Blumenthal have beforehand raised issues about Tesla’s advertising and marketing practices and the security of its automated driving know-how.
In April, senators wrote to Musk questioning him about one other Reuters investigation, which reported that teams of Tesla staff, by way of an inner messaging system, distributed personal, and typically extremely intrusive, recordings from prospects’ automotive cameras.