Dec 27 (Reuters) – Two U.S. senators have written to Elon Musk, Tesla\u2019s top executive, calling on him to \u201cswiftly\u201d recall any steering and suspension parts that pose a safety risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The letter cites \u201can alarming\u201d Reuters investigation<\/u><\/a> published on December 20 that exposed how Tesla has blamed drivers for frequent failures of components it has long known were defective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe write with extreme concern following recent reporting about Tesla\u2019s knowledge of safety flaws in its vehicles and concealment of the causes of these flaws from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,\u201d states the letter, which is signed by Senators Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut, and Edward J. Markey, of Massachusetts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The senators call on Musk to correct \u201capparent false and misleading representations\u201d made to the safety agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Reuters report found that Tesla told NHTSA and customers that the frequent failures of defective parts in its electric vehicles were caused by driver \u201cabuse,\u201d such as hitting a curb. In 2020, Tesla gave that explanation in a letter to the safety agency explaining why it would not recall a suspension part called the aft link in the United States, despite having just recalled it in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tesla documents reviewed by Reuters show the automaker\u2019s engineers for years tracked frequent failures of aft links and other suspension, steering and axle parts, often on relatively new cars. The company instructed its service managers to tell customers that the parts were not faulty as it struggled to contain soaring warranty costs, the records reviewed by Reuters show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are disturbed that you would blame your customers for these failures,\u201d stated the letter from Blumenthal and Markey, both Democrats. \u201cIt is unacceptable that Tesla would not only attempt to shift the responsibility for the substandard quality of its vehicles to the people purchasing them, but also make that same flawed argument to NHTSA.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Musk and Tesla did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the senators\u2019 letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After this article was published, Tesla posted a response<\/u><\/a> to the Reuters investigation on Musk\u2019s social media platform, X, formerly known as Twitter. The automaker said the article\u2019s headline \u2013 \u201cTesla blamed drivers for failures of parts it long knew were defective\u201d \u2013 was \u201cwildly misleading” and said the story \u201cis riddled with incomplete and demonstrably incorrect information.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tesla said its \u201ccustomer retention is among the best and highest in the industry\u201d and the company \u201cis truthful and transparent with our safety regulators around the globe and any insinuation otherwise is plain wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The automaker also challenged one customer’s account that the suspension on his 2023 Model Y collapsed one day after he bought the car. Tesla said its “telemetry” data showed there was a prior “crash that resulted in this repair not being covered by warranty.” The owner told Reuters he was the only person who drove the car before the suspension failure and hadn’t had an accident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sweden’s Transport Agency said on Friday that it\u2019s investigating suspension failures<\/u><\/a> in Tesla cars. The inquiry is similar to one being carried out in neighboring Norway, where the Norwegian Public Roads Administration said last week it was looking into consumer complaints<\/u><\/a> about lower rear control arms breaking on its Model S and X vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Markey and Blumenthal have previously raised concerns about Tesla’s marketing practices and the safety of its automated driving technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In April, the senators wrote to Musk questioning him about another Reuters investigation<\/u><\/a>, which reported that groups of Tesla employees had circulated, via an internal messaging system, private and sometimes highly invasive recordings from customers’ car cameras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n