Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety, Hatchback, Tesla, Electric, Luxury
http://o.aolcdn.com/dims-shared/dims3/GLOB/crop/2962x1985+0+61/resize/628x417!/format/jpg/quality/85/http://hss-prod.hss.aol.com/hss/storage/adam/d686ba2680b5754a794034cf49c0fc82/173277243.jpeg
The Tesla Model S is being investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration after three of the models caught fire; two of the electric cars impacted debris on the road, and one was involved in a single-car accident. This much we know for sure. Just exactly how the investigation came to be, though, is up for debate.
According to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the California-based automaker requested that the government safety agency open the investigation, saying in a blog post, “We have requested that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration conduct a full investigation as soon as possible into the fire incidents. While we think it is highly unlikely, if something is discovered that would result in a material improvement in occupant fire safety, we will immediately apply that change to new cars and offer it as a free retrofit to all existing cars.”
Not so fast, counters NHTSA head David Strickland. Speaking to The Detroit News, Strickland had this to say: “Investigations are independent… We have never … actually had an automaker ask for a formal investigation, but it causes a couple of implications: If a manufacturer asks me or asks the agency for a formal investigation, you’ve already made a determination that you may have a defect that imposes an unreasonable risk to safety. … I don’t think that would ever happen.”
It’s important to remember that there were no serious injuries (let alone deaths) in any of the three Model S fires. Regardless of whether Tesla requested NHTSA’s involvement or not, the fact remains that the Model S is being investigated, and we’re all keenly interested to see the results.NHTSA denies Tesla asked for Model S fire probe originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 20 Nov 2013 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Commentshttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/weblogsinc/autoblog?i=-2S5Ass7bPY:kmZPzST-WXE:wF9xT3WuBAs http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/weblogsinc/autoblog?i=-2S5Ass7bPY:kmZPzST-WXE:V_sGLiPBpWU
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/weblogsinc/autoblog/~4/-2S5Ass7bPY