Two U.S. senators are urging Tesla to conduct a mass recall because of faulty EV suspension parts. The American officials sent a letter to Elon Musk, asking the billionaire to order his EV company to initiate a recall.
In an aerial view, Tesla cars sit parked in a lot at the Tesla factory on April 20, 2022, in Fremont, California. Tesla reported first-quarter earnings that far exceeded analyst expectations with revenue of $18.76 billion compared to expectations of $17.80 billion.
Democratic senators Edward Markey (Massachusetts) and Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut) said that they are concerned about the recent report about the automaker's knowledge of safety flaws in its EV models, as well as the concealment of these flaws' causes.
The report they were referring to came from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
US Senators Call for Tesla Recall Over Faulty EV Suspension Parts
Markey and Blumenthal said that it is quite concerning that Tesla already has knowledge regarding its faulty EV suspension components and still blames the issues on drivers.
"We are disturbed that you would blame your customers for these failures," said the Democratic senators via Teslarati.
"It is unacceptable that Tesla would not only attempt to shift the responsibility for the substandard quality of its vehicles to the people purchasing them but also make that same flawed argument to NHTSA," they added.
Based on Reuters' investigation, Tesla allegedly informed its EV consumers and NHTSA that the issues on suspension parts, such as the aft link, are happening because of driver abuse.
With this claim, the giant EV maker was able to avoid recalling its affected electric cars in the United States. But, what's suspicious about this is that Tesla conducted a recall in China back in 2020 over the same suspension flaws.
However, the investigation revealed that the Tesla 2020 recall in China only included the Model X and Model S, which are low-volume cars, meaning that fewer Chinese consumers are purchasing them.
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Tesla Engineers Complain About Suspension Failures
Tesla vehicles are displayed in a showroom in Manhattan on April 04, 2019 in New York City. Tesla announced a first-quarter 31% drop in vehicles that were delivered to customers compared to the prior quarter. The news caused the stock to drop approximately 8%.
In 2020, NHTSA issued a statement regarding the mass recall in China. The transportation safety agency said that it was aware of the faulty suspension parts in the Chinese market.
But, officials clarified that they haven't received any significant report on these suspension issues in the U.S. However, the latest investigation by Reuters revealed the opposite.
The report claims that some Tesla engineers are complaining about frequent failures of aft link suspensions and other similar components. Aside from these, they have also reported issues with EV axle and steering wheel parts for years.
As of writing, Tesla and Elon Musk haven't commented regarding the recall request of the two U.S. Democratic senators.
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