few cases

The report notes that the Elon Musk-led company has a long history of alleging that car owners “exploit drivers” by charging repair fees for malfunctions caused by parts the company deems substandard. Problems are usually related to suspension and steering.

Several stories involve Tesla owners who were told that problems with their cars were due to previous damage or abuse by the driver. They also purchased new cars in some cases.

• Shreyansh Jain, one of the drivers interviewed by Reuters, experienced suspension failure in his 2023 Tesla Model Y. Possessed in less than 24 hours. He expected Tesla to cover the repair costs when the automaker told him the cause of the malfunction was the lower control arm detaching from the steering knuckle. A service representative who inspected the vehicle said he “found no evidence of any external damage,” according to the text message.

About a week later, Tesla sent a letter to Jain avoiding the accusations and pointing to “previous external impact damage to the front right suspension” as the cause.

Jain said he was the only person who drove the car the day he first bought it and that the car was accident-free before the suspension failed.

I thought, “Damn, how can metal crack like that when I’m sure the car didn’t hit anything?
he told Reuters.

Three months later the repairs were completed and Jain had to pay. $1250. His insurance covered the rest.

• Cincinnati surgeon Trace Curry paid $110,000 for a 2016 Tesla Model X. He replaced the SUV’s control arms twice, once under warranty and the second time at his own expense. After the guarantee expired, Reuters reviewed the accounts Curry said paid about $10,000 For defective suspension and drive axle parts. Then in 2018 he replaced the front axles under warranty and later at his own expense, We pay $1,500.

An investigation by Reuters alleges that Tesla knew that Curry’s Model

• Andrew Landin was driving his wife’s 2018 Model 3 in August when the car’s power steering failed when he hit a police officer who was lying on the ground. The Santa Rosa, California, resident said a Tesla service manager told him the power steering connector was corroded and attributed it to the car wash, which the employee described as a known problem.

Landin paid $4,400 out of pocket allegedly thanks to his brave decision to visit the car wash to replace the steering rack and wiring harness.

This is the only car I’ve heard of where car washing could damage the wiring.
He told the Tesla manager.

Landin said a Tesla employee responded: “One thing I can tell you is that we are not a 100-year-old company like GM and Ford. We haven’t fixed all the bugs yet.”.

The investigation also shows that the company “responded inconsistently” to the malfunctions and failed to recall defective parts. Apparently, the manufacturer’s engineers determined that the rear linkage, which is part of the suspension, had broken in several other cases where owners were driving at low speeds (similar to Jain’s story). A former Tesla employee told Reuters that between 2016 and 2020, the company received nearly 400 complaints about rear axles in China.

Elon Musk is the head of the automaker It delayed the recall for four years and only agreed to it after coming under pressure from Chinese regulators. The country’s State Administration for Market Regulation made a statement about the “risk of accidents”.

However, despite global reports of failure, Tesla never recalled parts in the US and Europe. The company told US regulators that the problems were caused by “driver abuse”. It gives the cause of the malfunctions as “improper use of the vehicle, hitting the curb or excessively strong impact”.

“Abuse” and “misuse” are terms included in the Elon Musk-led company’s contract that allows the automaker to deny warranty repairs in what it calls incidents.