Tesla’s claims concerning the safety of its Model 3 electrical vehicle prompted U.S. regulators to deliver an cease-and-desist correspondence and escalate the issue by requesting the Federal Trade Commission to investigate, based on documents published by the non-profit legal transparency website Plainsite.
The documents show correspondence between the attorneys at National Highway Safety Administration and Tesla that began after the automaker’s October 7 website post that stated the Model 3 had attained the lowest probability of harm of any vehicle the agency ever examined. Plainsite received the records via a Freedom of Information Act request.
NHTSA took issue with the website post, asserting that the Tesla’s claims were so inconsistent with its marketing guidelines regarding collision ratings. The issue might have ended with that requirement. However, NHTSA took the matter further and informed Tesla it’d request the Federal Trade Commission to consider in.
“This isn’t the first time which Tesla has disregarded the guidelines within a matter that may lead to consumer confusion and give Tesla a unfair market advantage,” the correspondence dated October 17 reads. “We have thus also referred this issue to the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection to research whether these statements represent unfair or deceptive acts or practices. ”
Tesla did not respond to your request for comment.
The automaker’s attorneys did, however, push back against NHTSA’s request, according to the correspondence published by Plainsite. Tesla attorneys argue in one letter that the firm ’s statements were neither “false nor deceptive. ”
“To the contrary, Tesla has provided consumers with honest and objective advice to evaluate the relative safety of vehicles having 5-star overall ratings,” the correspondence from Tesla’s deputy general counsel.
The files posted by Plainsite also showed NHTSA requested sales info on all Tesla vehicles created since July 2016 with or without Autopilot, the automaker’s innovative driver support system. The agency also issued subpoenas to Tesla ordering it to produce information on many crashes, including a January 25, 2019 crash in San Ramon, Calif.. The subpoenas requested information regarding the vehicle, its owner, background, along with videos and graphics linked to the crash and must be shipped into NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigations.
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