There are continued questions about the safety of ever-advancing car community, and while Tesla boasts that its “vehicles are engineered to be the safest cars in the world,” there have been several concerning headlines about crashes and fatalities.
One incident showed a wrecked Cybertruck where everyone miraculously survived, suggesting that Tesla vehicles are at least living up to their safety promises in terms of design.
However, if a car is genuinely at fault, you might expect a company to hold its hands up and admit wrongdoing.
One Tesla owner involved in a crash was forced to pay the electric vehicle giant and apologize to the $1.1 trillion company.
As reported by the AP, Zhang Yazhou was sitting in the passenger seat of her Tesla Model 3 when she heard her father shout that the brakes weren’t working as they were heading toward a red light.
While not the biggest, Tesla is an EV giant in China (Xiaolu Chu / Stringer / Getty)
With Yazhou’s father swerving, he hit an SUV and a sedan before smashing into a concrete barrier.
Traffic police said that the crash was the fault of Yazhou’s father because he hadn’t kept a safe following distance from the vehicle in front, but she maintained that it was an issue with the brakes.
After filing a complaint with a local market regulator and asking Tesla for the crash data, she also requested a refund and compensation. She says that Tesla refused and explained: “Tesla’s employees were very arrogant and tough in dealing with my complaints. I was burning with anger.”
After being hit with radio silence, Yazhou parked her damaged car in front of a Tesla dealership in Zhengzhou and draped it with a banner that said, “Tesla brake failure.” While sitting on the roof, she says she picked up a megaphone and shouted: “Tesla Model 3 brakes failed. A family of four almost died.” This was followed by her parking her damaged Model 3 outside an auto show in Zhengzhou the following month.
The scorned Yazhou and several others stormed a Shanghai auto show in April 2021, but after going viral on social media, a Tesla executive claimed that she was acting on behalf of a competitor or the Chinese government.
Although Yazhou tried to sue Tesla for defamation, she found herself on the other end of a defamation suit from the car company…and lost. As well as being ordered to issue a public apology, Yazhou was told to pay the EV company over $23,000 in damages.
Zhang Yazhou maintains that Tesla is at fault (Smith Collection/Gado / Contributor via Getty)
Tesla eventually released the crash data, showing that her father had been driving at around 120 km per hour and that the brakes had functioned correctly.
Still, AP adds that Tesla has sued six car owners in China – all apparently for complaining about mechanical failures or vehicle malfunctions.
More than this, the outlet claims that at least six bloggers and two Chinese media outlets have been successfully sued. Out of the 11 cases AP could account for, the Chinese courts always found in Tesla’s favor. At the time of writing, Yazhou’s and another case are on appeal while another was settled out of court.
Even as Yazhou’s appeal rumbles on, the odds are stacked against her. She remains defiant, telling AP: “I refuse to accept it. As a consumer, even if I said something wrong, I have the right to comment and criticize. I spoke about my feelings as a user of the car. It has nothing to do with damaging their reputation.”
UNILAD Tech has reached out to Tesla but hasn’t received a response at the time of writing.
Tesla owner forced to pay $14,000 in repairs after car ground to a halt one day after buying it
A Tesla owner forced to pay $14,000 in repairs after his car ground to a halt one day after buying it.
When you buy a new vehicle, you expect that you’ll get at least a few thousands miles on it before you start to encounter any problems.
But unfortunately, this wasn’t the case for one unlucky Tesla owner.
Jain, who is from Cambridge, England, bought his Tesla Model Y back in 2023.
The Tesla owner had to fork out on repairs (Daniel Pier/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
But he only managed to drive 115 miles in it before the electric car started to exhibit some notable problems.
It was just one day after Jain was ‘over the moon’ to get his hands on the Tesla that it came to a ‘grinding halt’.
Even more worryingly, the dangerous issue occured while his wife and young daughter were in the vehicle with him.
Jain recalled how, without warning, he lost control of steering the car.
Speaking to Reuters, he said: “They were absolutely petrified. If we were on a 70 mile per hour highway, and this would have happened, that would have been catastrophic.”
Jain went on to learn that his Model Y’s front right suspension had collapsed, and so much so that parts of the car were loudly scraping along the road.
The car needed 40 hours worth of labor to fix the issue, as the suspension had to be completely rebuilt and the steering column needed replacing, amongst other things.
Jain ended up having to fork out an eye-watering $14,000 to pay for this – which Tesla reportedly refused to pay for.
The Elon Musk-owned car manufacturer blamed the accident on ‘prior’ suspension damage.
The Elon Musk-owned car manufacturer reportedly refused to pay for the repairs (Kevin Lamarque – Pool/Getty Images)
LADbible Group has approached Tesla for comment on the matter.
It’s typically Tesla’s infamous Cybertruck that people have had the most issues with; the quality of its build being one of the biggest.
People have also been having problems with the futuristic-looking truck over the winter months.
One person discovered that their headlights were covered with snow because they are placed behind a ledge on the truck.
The Cybertruck owner had to remove the snow from the ledge in question so that the lights would be obvious.
The owner said: “I can’t believe Tesla just didn’t think about this when they put this giant shelf in front of the lights, but if they did, it’s honestly an awful design.”
Not exactly ideal if you were in a rush to get to work one snowy morning…
Featured Image Credit: Daniel Pier/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Leaked email shows savage message Elon Musk sent to Tesla about working from home
The billionaire seemingly put an end to remote working dreams
Elon Musk once sent savage emails to Tesla staff demanding their compliance with office-based working rules.
X owner Musk, 53, seemingly isn’t the biggest fan of remote working.
Last year, the businessman declared his disdain for bosses who choose to operate outside of offices, telling CNBC: “It’s messed up to assume that, yes, [employees] they have to go to work but [bosses] don’t. It’s not just a productivity thing, I think it’s morally wrong.”
He also claimed the ‘laptop class’ was living in ‘la-la land’ and that he believed those working from home were less ‘productive’ than those grinding out their days in the workplace.
Interestingly, this isn’t a new stance for Musk to take.
In 2022, he allegedly told Tesla staff that he expected them in the building for a ‘minimum’ of 40 hours per week.
In leaked emails, shared by the popular Internal Tech Emails X account, Musk further stated that if his employees were punching less on their timesheets then he’d assume they were resigning.
Elon Musk isn’t the biggest fan of remote working. (Marc Piasecki / Contributor/Getty)
“Anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum (and I mean *minimum) of 40 hours per week or depart Tesla,” Musk wrote to an email chain called ‘ExecStaff’ on May 31 2022.
“This is less than we ask of factory workers. If there are particularly exceptional contributors for whom this is impossible, I will review and approve those exceptions directly.”
He added that the office must be a main Tesla office and not a remote branch for ‘unrelated to job duties’.
Doubling down on his stance, Musk continued to send what appears to be a company-wide email with the subject like ‘To be super clear’.
The second email read: “Everyone at Tesla is required to spend a minimum of 40 hours in the office per week. Moreover, the office must be where your actual colleagues are located, not some remote pseudo-office.
“If you don’t show up, we will assume you have resigned.”
Elon Musk demanded that Tesla workers punch in for a ‘minimum’ of 40 hours per week. (Anna Moneymaker/Staff/Getty)
Musk went on to insist that senior team members must become more ‘visible’ in the office before explaining he used to visit the Tesla factories on a routine basis.
He claimed this was so that his employees could physically see him working alongside them.
“If I had not done that, Tesla would long ago have gone bankrupt,” he continued.
“There are companies that don’t require this, but when was the last time they shipped a great new product? It’s been a while.
“Tesla has and will create and actually manufacture the most exciting and meaningful products of any company on Earth. This will not happen by phoning it in,” he concluded.
When asked about the leaked emails by another X account, Musk defended himself and wrote: “They should pretend to work somewhere else.”
Well, that’s the Tesla staff told, huh?
Featured Image Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Staff / Getty
Tesla asks shareholders to restore Elon Musk’s $56B pay package
It’s proving a difficult package to get through.
Ever come to the end of the year, looked at your annual payslip and felt a bit like you deserve more?
Well, spare a thought for Elon Musk, consistently one of the three richest men in the world, who needs to get approval for a $56 million pay packet. The pay comes in the form of a stock package that was meant to start coming his was in 2018 and continue for 10 years.
Musk had that package rejected by a Delaware judge earlier this year and now needs Tesla shareholders to approve it, which is a slightly taller order than it might have been a few years ago.
Tesla is asking shareholders to restore a $56 billion pay package for CEO Elon Musk / ANGELA WEISS / Contributor / Getty
Tesla’s stock price has not been in the rudest health this year, after all, falling 37% already, so it’ll be interesting to see whether Musk’s request is approved.
However, despite that recent turbulence, Musk and his team are arguing that the overall growth metrics agreed in 2018 have been clearly surpassed, with Tesla’s share price up by more than 500% since then.
While the headline-grabbing total that Musk is asking for is massive, it can also be contextualised a little, as explained by the Chairperson of the board of directors at Tesla, Robyn Denholm.
She wrote: “Because the Delaware Court second-guessed your decision, Elon has not been paid for any of his work for Tesla for the past six years that has helped to generate significant growth and stockholder value. That strikes us – and the many stockholders from whom we already have heard – as fundamentally unfair, and inconsistent with the will of the stockholders who voted for it.”
So, the chair of the board of directors is clearly very much on board with the request (which shouldn’t be too surprising since a good relationship with Musk is surely a must in that position).
However, it’s still over to the shareholders to re-approve the plan – and even then, it might be questioned and rejected once again by Delaware’s judges.
If that happens, a replacement plan will need to be agreed and possibly even back-dated, which could take time and expensive resources up, so it would seem that Tesla has got itself into quite a bind.
The key question being assessed by the judge each time someone looks into this is whether shareholders are being given fair value by the pay package, to stop CEOs from just taking outrageous pay without any checks or balances.
In each case, though, it requires a shareholder to bring the case through the system – the state won’t just look into this of its own accord.
