Tesla has a history of accusing its customers of “driver abuse” and charging them for repairs on parts that they knew were faulty, according to a Reuters exposé published on Wednesday. The report found that these defective pieces, which were mostly responsible for suspension and steering, were flagged internally but denied in public. The news agency obtained a 2019 “talking points” memo that encouraged Tesla service centers to blame “vehicle misuse” such as “hitting a curb or other excessive strong impact” as the reason for broken aft links related to the suspension in order to avoid product recalls in the U.S. and Europe. Reuters also found that Tesla uses words like “abuse” and “misuse” in the conditions of its warranty policy that give it the power to decline repair requests in a scheme to reduce costs when investors were questioning the car company’s long-term profitability.
