Tesla Critics Cross the Line on Implications of Safety Recall

Man, the automotive pundits out there sure are quick to pick up on an opportunity. Here’s the problem: A press release goes out, some are quick to jump on the opportunity to create waves – particularly online – and you have a sensationalized story that propagates forever through the viral nature of the Internet. Never mind placing the story in context or getting the appropriate background. Just get it out there so it gets tweaked, twittered, and twisted beyond reality … and the traffic will come. That just happened with the story about Tesla Motors recalling its electric roadster.

Let’s just get to the heart of this: The $109,000 Tesla Roadster has developed another problem. The first was a transmission issue, which apparently could find the original tranny overwhelmed by the massive torque provided by the car’s electric motor. This was a quality and durability issue – ‘teething pains’ if you will – that delayed production. The new problem is that on some of the 345 model year 2008 Tesla Roadsters manufactured between March 2008 and April 22, 2009, the inner rear hub flange bolts may have been under-torqued, which could potentially “lead to a crash,” according to an official recall notification on the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) website. A rubbing noise from the rear of the roadster and degraded handling are identified as potential signs of trouble ahead. That’s a safety issue, thus the NHTSA posting and Tesla press release. No accidents have been reported.

While this is clearly Tesla Motors’ problem, it wasn’t this company’s direct doing. Rather, the hub bolt assembly is handled by contract assembler Lotus in the UK. In fact, Tesla reports that the same issue extends to some Lotus Elise and Exige models that apparently also received under-torqued bolts on the Lotus assembly line. Does that mean Lotus shouldn’t make sports cars or the problem portends great waves of doom for sports cars in general? Of course not. It also doesn’t mean anything in particular for the electric car market.

The auto industry’s history is rife with recalls because, after all, we do not live in a perfect world. Building perfect cars that never have issues is an unreal expectation. That’s why new cars have warranties. The goal always should be to strive for perfection and then, if issues arise, remedy these issues promptly and with consideration for the customer. If a model is subject to recall because of a substantial defect, then the important thing is that an automaker handle the recall with due diligence to protect its customers and its product line.

By all appearances, Tesla Motors is handling this straight on, and perhaps elegantly, by promising to make ‘house calls’ to each of its Roadster owners and perform the fix at their convenience. While they’re on site, Tesla technicians will also perform a complete vehicle inspection and upload software updates. That, my friends, turns a negative into a positive in the eyes of existing and potential future customers. Now, if only Tesla could get ahead of the curve by manufacturing all its cars in their model year rather than nearly halfway into what should be the next model year...