Elon Musk made Tesla batteries safer only when regulators ‘challenged his ego’, report alleges
‘NHTSA staff backs Musk into a corner and challenges his ego,’ a former official allegedly says, ‘and the next day he has a solution.’
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Your support makes all the difference.Elon Musk allegedly threatened to sue the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration after it called an investigation into Tesla following the death of a driver.
In May 2017, 40 year-old Joshua Brown died when his Tesla Model S collided with the white trailer of a lorry while it was in self-driving mode. The NHTSA subsequently begun looking into the autopilot system, at the time available in 25,000 Model S cars.
A new report from the Washington Post said that the electric car company is unusually stubborn in the face of simple issues raised by the NHTSA such as malfunctioning heat pumps or features that made the car horn sound like someone passing wind.
Tesla eventually recalled both features. Mr Musk would say that the NHTSA were the “fun police” after 500,000 cars were recalled.
“NHTSA will ensure that vehicle manufacturers and developers prioritize safety while they usher in the latest technologies,” spokeswoman Lucia Sanchez said.
In 2013, Tesla also claimed that the Model S was the safest car ever tested by NHTSA – a statement the organisation could never make, as it only issues five-star ratings rather than a specific ranking.
Tesla eventually stopped making the claim after NHTSA officials threatened to contact the Federal Trade Commission, it is alleged. “If Tesla wasn’t willing to pull the plug, FTC was probably going to take action,” one former official reportedly said.
Regarding battery-related issues, the only way to have Mr Musk listen was concerns was reportedly to flatter him.
“NHTSA staff backs Musk into a corner and challenges his ego and says, ‘Wait, you can’t solve this?’” a former official said. “And the next day he has a solution.”
Under the former administration led by president Trump, reportedly reluctant to appear as if they were targeting innovation under pressure from the president, the NHTSA only listed one recall for the 2017-2020 Tesla Model 3. Mr Musk had praised the NHTSA as being “great” in a tweet.
One month after that declaration, when the Biden administration took office, it issued issued eight recalls for the same car.
Tesla, which disbanded its media relations department in 2020, did not reply to The Independent’s request for comment before time of publication.
“For the 100th time, please give my regards to your puppetmaster,” Mr Musk told the Washington Post, referring to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who owns the newspaper.
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