Shulou(Shulou.com)12/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, December 21 (Xinhua) in recent years, Tesla's driving assistance systems Autopilot and FSD have been questioned, and safety regulators have raised a lot of concerns about their safety performance. However, another seemingly inconspicuous but vital part of Tesla's car, the suspension system, may be the biggest safety hazard facing car owners, according to a new Reuters survey.

Internal documents obtained by Reuters show that Tesla admitted internally that there were defects in the suspension system of some of its models, which led to the failure of the parts connected to the wheels of the vehicle. These failures not only triggered recalls in China, but also led to frequent warranty repairs in Norway, so much so that management worried that the company could go bankrupt.

According to the documents, Tesla internally described the faulty parts as "defects", but Reuters reported that in order to reduce the financial impact, Tesla tried to pass on the maintenance costs to the car owners. at the same time, efforts to prove to investors that the company can still achieve long-term profits, thereby raising the share price.

These suspension system problems have existed since the early days of Tesla's establishment, involving parts such as control arm, front connecting rod, rear connecting rod, half shaft and even steering rack. Tesla replaced 66000 axles and upper control arms on 120000 vehicles between January 2021 and March 2022 alone, according to a maintenance analysis.

Frequent component failures are attributed to the fact that many of the car owners failed within months of delivery, and they are still under Tesla's warranty. However, according to the internal memo, Tesla instructed maintenance technicians to blame these failures mainly on improper operation of the driver or previous damage to the vehicle, thereby minimizing maintenance costs.

In the fourth quarter of 2018, frequent suspension problems caused Tesla to suffer a maintenance loss of $263 million, while the company made a profit of only $139 million in the same period. Regulators have also taken note of these problems. In 2020, China forced a recall of some Tesla models because of a post-link failure, but Tesla did not do so in the United States or Europe, claiming that Chinese regulators were wrong. The company also refused to challenge the Chinese government, citing financial pressure.

Although Tesla knows that the root causes of these problems are design defects, he still blames them on "driver abuse" and vehicle misuse. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is still investigating problems with the front links of the Model S and X models. The agency says it has received a number of complaints about faulty front connecting rods when drivers are driving at high speeds since 2020.

Even though Tesla has repaired most of the faulty vehicles, the company still sells millions of cars with defective parts, which could lead to a failure of the suspension system while the vehicle is moving, posing a major safety risk, the Reuters report suggests that cars are still sold even though they are still sold because of defects.

Although Tesla claims to have solved these problems in early 2022, consumers still face a relapse. As a result, some car owners, such as Shreyansh Jain, the British Model Y owner, have to choose to sell their vehicles. Jain suffered a suspension failure just 24 hours and 185km after picking up the car, causing him to suddenly lose control of the steering wheel as he turned into the community. He told Reuters that the vehicle's front right suspension system malfunctioned and made a loud scratching noise as it stopped.

"they were all scared," Jain said, referring to his wife and daughter. "if we were on the 110km / h highway, the consequences would be unthinkable."

Tesla spent nearly 40 hours after sale manually rebuilding the suspension system, replacing the steering column and carrying out other necessary repairs, which cost more than $14000 (CTOnews.com Note: currently about 99960 yuan). Tesla refused to bear the maintenance costs and blamed the accident on "previous" suspension damage. The frustrated Jain eventually sold the car for $10000 less than the purchase price.

"I completely lost confidence in this car," Jain said, and his car is the latest model in 2023.

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