Feds investigating potentially widespread Tesla Model S suspension issue
Reuters broke this news story earlier today, claiming NHTSA is currently in the review process of its investigation. After the review concludes, it's up to the feds whether or not they want to expand to a formal investigation, which is the step immediately preceding a formal recall.
The news comes one day after Edward Niedermeyer wrote a story for Daily Kanban, investigating a number of forum posts alleging issues with the Tesla Model S sedan and its control arms. Evidently, suspension including those arms might be prone to accelerated failure.
Niedermeyer also noted owners who had Tesla involved in out-of-warranty work to fix this problem were given nondisclosure agreements. The agreements asked owners to not discuss the terms of any goodwill (out-of-warranty) payments by the automaker.
It appeared the NDA also requested that owners not talk about their issues at all: "You agree to keep confidential our provision of the Goodwill, the terms of this agreement and the incidents or claims leading or related to our provision of the Goodwill."
Naturally, this pissed off the feds, who often rely on consumer reporting to help facilitate future recalls and investigations. Niedermeyer's Twitter points to a statement from NHTSA following the commencement of its review. "NHTSA learned of Tesla's troublesome nondisclosure agreement last month. The agency immediately informed Tesla that any language implying that consumers should not contact the agency regarding safety concerns is unacceptable."
NHTSA did not immediately return a request for comment. I will update this story with Tesla's response, once the automaker has finished preparing its statement to the press.
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