After blog the Daily Kanban reported on the purported suspension failures and alleged efforts by Tesla to keep them quiet, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a USA federal transportation safety regulator, scorned Tesla and announced it would review the situation. Safety regulators are looking into a report of a possible safety issue with the suspension on the Model S. Tesla denies that there is any safety problem.
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“Tesla has never and would never ask a customer to sign a document to prevent them from talking to NHTSA or any other government agency”, it said.
The issue arose when a Model S owner Pete Cordaro wrote about a failure of his front suspension on the Tesla forums.
But the regulator said that the wording in the agreement could deter people from reporting safety problems to them. The company said it has given the agency all relevant information.
“NHTSA learned of Tesla’s troublesome nondisclosure agreement last month”, said Bryan Thomas, NHTSA director of communications in a statement. He added that it was unclear how many other Tesla customers, if any, had signed similar agreements.
“Whenever there is even a potential issue with one of those parts, we investigate fully”, Tesla said. The company noted the car’s “suspension ball joint experienced very abnormal rust”, possibly leading to the suspension problems the vehicle’s owner was concerned about.
Musk affirmed that finding in a tweet on Friday, saying “NHTSA confirmed today that they found no safety concern with the Model S suspension and have no further need for data from us on this matter”. Perhaps more troubling is a report from Edward Niedermyer on Dailykanban that Tesla is actively trying to cover up issues with its cars and force its customers not to reach out to the NHTSA.
Tesla in its own blog posted a lengthy response rebutting claims of safety defects or improper agreements with customers.
The customer noted days after the original comment that the company had offered to pay 50 percent of the $3,100 fix bill if they signed a “Goodwill Agreement” prohibiting them from telling anyone about the problems.
We’ll keep you posted.
The auto, owned by Peter Cordaro, 61, of Connellsville, Pa., has more than 70,000 miles on it and needed two tow trucks to take it to the service center, one to get it from the dirt road he lives on to the highway, and another to take it from the highway to the service center. Rosekind said the agency has been in touch with Tesla.
The battery-powered Model S has a starting price of about $70,000.
“The basic point is to ensure that Tesla doesn’t do a good deed, only to have that used against us in court for further gain”, the company said.
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NHTSA said Thursday it was reviewing reports of suspension problems, but had not opened a formal investigation.
