Huge Tesla leak reveals thousands of safety issues, privacy problems

The German publication Handelsblatt is in possession of greater than 23,000 inner information and paperwork from Tesla after an worker leaked the information. The information embody private data on greater than 100,000 present and former workers, in addition to thousands of reviews of problems with Tesla’s superior driving help techniques, Autopilot, and “Full Self-Driving.”

The earliest complaints within the knowledge trove date again to 2015, and the newest to March 2022. Most of the complaints come up from the US, though European and Asian buyer problems are additionally mirrored within the knowledge.

More than 2,400 complaints allege sudden unintended acceleration problems. Although Autopilot and FSD have been the main target of headlines for the previous couple of years, in the course of the mid-2010s there have been a lot of reviews of Teslas taking off on their very own accord—not less than 232 instances have been reported within the US, though (as typically seems in instances like these) the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration discovered no proof for a {hardware} or software program downside, as a substitute blaming driver error.

More than 1,500 complaints allege problems braking, together with 139 instances of phantom braking and 383 instances of phantom stops. In February 2022, we realized that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had opened a safety investigation into Tesla’s phantom braking downside after it acquired a whole bunch of complaints after an article in The Washington Post drew consideration to the problem. But the issue has persevered, inflicting an eight-car collision over Thanksgiving after Tesla opened up its FSD Beta program to all house owners.

Handelsblatt says there have been greater than 1,000 crashes linked to brake problems and greater than 3,000 entries the place clients reported safety issues with the motive force assists.

The German publication even went to the difficulty of contacting Tesla house owners to verify the information was appropriate.

A physician from California, for instance, who needs to stay nameless, instructed the Handelsblatt about an incident from autumn 2021. She was about to show in a parking zone when her Tesla immediately accelerated like a racing automobile. “I tried to steer but crashed into a cement bollard,” the client recollects.
 “He fell over, but the car didn’t stop. I drove into the nearest bollard. The airbag went off and I was stunned.”

Between January and October 2021, the Swiss Thomas Karl complained to Tesla a couple of dozen incorrect braking makes an attempt along with his car. Karl was a daily buyer, had been for ten years. But his new Model S made him nervous, as e-mail correspondence with Tesla makes clear.

“Hello gentlemen, believe me that I’m starting to lose my nerve?” Karl wrote on July 26, 2021 about one other incident. His Tesla had an accident on the Swiss A3 between Flums and Sargans “after being overhauled vehicle made an emergency stop that scared and worried”.

According to Manfred Schon, he skilled one thing related on the M14 freeway. The former
 Bosch worker was on his solution to a gathering within the US state of Michigan on June 1, 2019 when his Tesla “suddenly slammed on the brakes, as hard as you can imagine,” Schon instructed the Handelsblatt. “I was pushed into the seat belt and the car almost came to a stop. Then another car hit me from behind.”

The Tesla information comprise related instances in Germany. One buyer complained that his Tesla had “driven into a median barrier on the freeway”. The motive was the autopilot’s emergency braking. Another reported to customer support about his Model S: “Drives into oncoming traffic.”

Beyond the client complaints, the information leak additionally reveals how Tesla responded to those problems—by committing to as little as potential in writing.

For every incident there are key factors for the “technical review”. The workers who enter this evaluation into the system often make it clear that the report is meant for “internal use only”. Each entry additionally accommodates the word in daring sort that data, if in any respect, might solely be handed on “VERBALLY to the customer”.

“Do not copy the report below into an email, text message or leave it in a voicemail to the customer,” it continues. Vehicle knowledge also needs to not be launched with out permission. If, regardless of the recommendation, “a legal involvement cannot be prevented”, this have to be recorded.

Customers that Handelsblatt spoke to have the impression that Tesla workers keep away from written communication. “They never sent emails, everything was always oral,” says the physician from California, whose Tesla mentioned it accelerated by itself within the fall of 2021 and crashed into two concrete pillars.

As anybody who covers Tesla would have the ability to let you know, Handelsblatt received no reply from the corporate when it queried it on the problems listed above. However, the automaker did demand its knowledge again, based on an accompanying word from Handelsblatt’s editor.