Tesla Blamed Owners For Parts It Knew Were Defective

Reuters reports:

Records and interviews reveal for the first time that the automaker has long known far more about the frequency and extent of the defects than it has disclosed to consumers and safety regulators.

The documents, dated between 2016 and 2022, include repair reports from Tesla service centers globally; analyses and data reviews by engineers on parts with high failure rates; and memos sent to technicians globally, instructing them to tell consumers that broken parts on their cars were not faulty.

Tesla’s handling of suspension and steering complaints reflects a pattern across Musk’s corporate empire of dismissing concerns about safety or other harms raised by customers, workers and others as he rushes to roll out new products or expand sales, Reuters has found.

Read the full article. There’s much more. No paywall.

Our latest @Reuters #Tesla investigation: Tesla blamed drivers for failures of parts it long knew were defective https://t.co/MWnu1JrM1j via @SpecialReports

— Steve Stecklow (@stecklow) December 20, 2023