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The star of 'Aladdin' claims a defect in his Tesla Model 3 led to his car wreck, and it comes from a problem area the company has known about for years
The Center for Auto Safety is the nation’s premier independent, member driven, non-profit consumer advocacy organization dedicated to improving vehicle safety, quality, and fuel economy on behalf of all drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.
What safety advocates like Levine are looking for, though, is more transparency — and that goes for all automakers. They want to see fewer safety critical issues treated as performance or quality repairs, and they want more defects reported to third parties like the NHTSA.
“From everything we’ve seen we can determine that Tesla’s been playing fast and loose with safety rules since the beginning. They seem to think that [the rules] don’t apply to them,” Levine said.
“There have been a series of efforts on Tesla’s part to try to minimize safety issues. We’ve been doing this since 1970’s and all manufacturers face safety issues. The ones who take them seriously are — over the long hall — seen as the ones consumers have brand loyalty for. The ones that hide these issues are the ones that develop a reputation as companies that value profits over people.”
by Linette Lopez
June 5, 2019
The star of Disney’s live-action version of ‘Aladdin’ is suing Tesla, claiming a defect in the car’s suspension caused the front wheel of his Model 3 to pop off as he was changing lanes on Hollywood Boulevard, spinning the car out of control and into a tree.
Actor Mena Massoud had bought the car only the day before and Geico, his insurer, ultimately found that the issue was indeed with Tesla, not Mena according, to the complaint. So Massoud is suing Tesla alleging negligence and breach of warranty among other things.
In a statement to Business Insider, a Tesla spokesperson said that Massoud’s car’s “wheel was torn off because the driver crashed into a tree at high speed.”
For those who watch Tesla closely, though, Massoud’s sounds familiar. Suspension problems have plagued Tesla’s cars for years. On the internet an incident like Mena’s is known as the “whompy wheel,” and it has become something like Tesla-lore. The National Highway Safety Transportation Association (NHTSA) website is littered with anonymous complaints about broken suspensions, and there are websites dedicated to spotting whompy wheels in the wild.
Click here to read the full article from Business Insider