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If this vehicle were truly unsafe to drive (according to US safety standards), what legal recourse would an individual consumer have to have this fixed? Unless the user gets in an accident, is there a way to actually prove the frame is structurally defective?
> The Tesla Files episode revealed that the BEV maker instructs its technicians always to provide feedback orally. Internal documents obtained by Handelsblatt stated: "Do not copy the report below into an email, text message, or leave it in a voicemail to the customer." I don't know how serious a crack in the front casting on a Tesla is, but this kind of policy is pretty egregious.
If it is legal where you live, you might want to get in the habit of secretly recording business dealings. I always have a recorder in my pocket when dealing with more than a few hundred dollars.
Light being able to shine straight through part of your car that's meant to be solid is scary. Does anyone know how common it is for cast metal of this sort to have damage like this? I am kind of surprised their manufacturing would have this issue
Cast parts are more brittle than forged parts. Once the cracks are visible you've already lost a great deal of strength. I wouldn't ride in this car.
Light being able to shine straight through part of your car that's meant to be solid is scary. Does anyone know how common it is for cast metal of this sort to have damage like this? I am kind of surprised their manufacturing would have this issue
It should be impossible to leave the factory like this. Let's say the issue is a substandard batch from a supplier that cracks from stress at some stage of the frame assembly (like when adding the battery pack, welding or adhesive bonding). The car should be inspected after all structural parts are added, at minimum visually but ideally with some kind of spectroscopy.
Also, if this is a whole batch with this issue it should have been noticed when doing QC on the shipment.
One option is that this happened at some stage during shipping (maybe the car rolled off a trailer and fell half a meter). Still, the dealership should be doing an inspection before handing the car over.
All in all, if this really isn't the result of some accident it is a total failure.
Light being able to shine straight through part of your car that's meant to be solid is scary. Does anyone know how common it is for cast metal of this sort to have damage like this? I am kind of surprised their manufacturing would have this issue
Meanwhile, TSLA is up 2% pre market.
Has the car owner shown a full video of the car? Are we sure we're not just looking at a crashed car? It'd be nice for the article to include a video like that so there's no doubt.
The article says: > NK denied his car was ever involved in any collisions. And given that the owner took it to an official service center to check the issue I believe the service center would have detected if it was the result of a collision instead of: > The manager of the service center said multiple times that 'the car is safe to drive' and that he had been assured by 'engineers' that it is 'safe.' However, he wil…
A simple video of the whole car would cast all doubts away.
If this vehicle were truly unsafe to drive (according to US safety standards), what legal recourse would an individual consumer have to have this fixed? Unless the user gets in an accident, is there a way to actually prove the frame is structurally defective?
Tesla's service center might be willing to say "within spec!" but I suspect they'll have a much harder time finding an engineer willing to put their license on the line in court.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If it is legal where you live, you might want to get in the habit of secretly recording business dealings. I always have a recorder in my pocket when dealing with more than a few hundred dollars.
Do it anyway. You can always not use the recording if the penalty for recording is going to be more than the benefit it gives you (unlikely).
EDIT: I know there are places where secret recordings are illegal but don't know the expected penalties. Recordings are probably legal in a "one-party consent" state. Be wary; certain kinds of recording may be illegal even if recording is legal in general.
In a lawsuit, you will be required to hand over all relevant records. It is illegal to destroy them or fail to hand them over. The penalties for doing so could be severe.
But even if you get away with it, hiding evidence would be wrong. Don't respond to sleaze with yet more sleaze. Maybe you'll win the fight or maybe you'll lose it, but you will always lose something of yourself.
Are cast structural parts common on modern cars? I thought the structure of modern cars was forged parts welded together by robots.
Tesla pioneered cast frames as a way of dropping the cost to manufacture the car.