Elon Musk: Officially a fraud and piece of shit. Official or unofficial war criminal?

[Gatorubet 30231]

 

[Poe It Up 126]

6 hours ago, Guadaloopy said:

Engines die unexpectedly when the fuel pump stops working.  What fact did I not have straight?

They’re not upset about cars. This strange anger towards Elon runs much, much  deeper. 

[Gatorubet 30231]

3 minutes ago, Poe It Up said:

They’re not upset about cars. This strange anger towards Elon runs much, much  deeper. 

There is nothing “strange” about it for decent people.   But if thin-skinned racist assholes who are completely devoid of empathy for their fellow man are your cup of tea, by all means carry-on. 

[Thetexashammer 1062]

2 hours ago, Gatorubet said:

There is nothing “strange” about it for decent people.   But if thin-skinned racist assholes who are completely devoid of empathy for their fellow man are your cup of tea, by all means carry-on. 

So you are upset about racist people and companies?

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13584]

Let's pretend we can't understand the simple, easily understood concept of people objecting to sales of a faulty product by a company that tries to blame the customer for the product's failure. 

[Ted Lange 16085]

[Captainant 27660]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/twitter-violated-contract-pay-millions-bonuses-us-judge-rules-rcna131034

WASHINGTON — Twitter violated contracts by failing to pay millions of dollars in bonuses that the social media company, now called X Corp, had promised its employees, a federal judge ruled on Friday.

Mark Schobinger, who was Twitter’s senior director of compensation before leaving Elon Musk’s company in May, sued Twitter in June, claiming breach of contract.

 

Schobinger’s suit alleged that before and after billionaire Musk bought Twitter last year, it promised employees 50% of their 2022 target bonuses but never made those payments.

[Guadaloopy 10964]

9 hours ago, C-Man said:

Did that kill anybody? Because I’m pretty sure Tesla’s (not so) autonomous driving system did kill people.

Improper use of the driver assist functions in Tesla’s caused deadly accidents.  

Improper use of driver assist functions (cruise control and lane-keeping) has caused automobile accidents for decades.

People misuse technology    Reel at 11.

 
 

 

[Captainant 27660]

1 minute ago, Guadaloopy said:

Improper use of the driver assist functions in Tesla’s caused deadly accidents.  

Improper use of driver assist functions (cruise control and lane-keeping) has caused automobile accidents for decades.

People misuse technology    Reel at 11.

Did improper use result in multiple fucking suspension arms doing an RUD? There's more at issue here than your $8,000 early access beta pedestrian smearing software, but you seem incapable of discussing literally anything else 

[Guadaloopy 10964]

9 hours ago, Captainant said:

A fuel pump going out results in an engine stall out and loss of power. It's not a good thing to have happen, but the car is still controllable and completely fixable without any lasting damage after a warranty pump replacement. That's what happened to a number of Honda drivers, and Honda issued a global recall to resolve the issues. 

 

A fucking suspension arm coming off a Tesla means uneven application of torque to the ground resulting in worse driver control. Plus a fucking wheel falls off and will almost certainly lead to significant body and potential frame damage. That happened to a brand fuckin new Tesla, and they stuck the owner with the repair bill AND COVERED IT UP! However they did issue a recall in China because they couldn't hide it from the Chinese government because they have worse regulatory capture there. 

 

Honda covered the repair costs, and the damage was fully repairable with low risk of permanent damage and low risk to third parties. 

Tesla stuck customers with repair costs for manufacturing defects, and the damage was catastrophic and made the car much more difficult to control in an emergency scenario. Sure the person in the Tesla may be fine, but the person/car they could spin into would be worse for wear.

 

Like goddamn dude you are doing the laziest whatabout #bothsides

I am not doing a “both sides” bit here.   Just pointing out that when it comes to vehicle recalls, Tesla is not some egregious outlier.

  
 

 

[Guadaloopy 10964]

1 minute ago, Captainant said:

Did improper use result in multiple fucking suspension arms doing an RUD? There's more at issue here than your $8,000 early access beta pedestrian smearing software, but you seem incapable of discussing literally anything else 

I’ve already acknowledged that Tesla fucked up that situation.  

[Neonmoon 38129]

1 minute ago, Guadaloopy said:

I am not doing a “both sides” bit here.   Just pointing out that when it comes to vehicle recalls, Tesla is not some egregious outlier.

The issues is not the recall but the cover up. Step away from the kool aid 

[Captainant 27660]

3 minutes ago, Guadaloopy said:

I’ve already acknowledged that Tesla fucked up that situation.  

 

4 minutes ago, Guadaloopy said:

I am not doing a “both sides” bit here.   Just pointing out that when it comes to vehicle recalls, Tesla is not some egregious outlier.

That fuck up in itself is an egregious outlier in how companies handle recalls. That doesn't happen with literally any other car manufacturers, much less the one that's larger than it's next 5 competitors combined. 

[Pato del Muerto 52490]

7 minutes ago, Captainant said:

 

That fuck up in itself is an egregious outlier in how companies handle recalls. That doesn't happen with literally any other car manufacturers, much less the one that's larger than it's next 5 competitors combined. 

A minor bit of defense here but auto manufacturers are averse to issuing recalls. How long did it take ford to issue a full recall on Firestone tires on explorers?  The more costly it would be, the harder they push against it. 
 

As a former f250 owner, the community was pushing for recalls on the death shimmy that is very much a road danger to the driver and others around.  Ford eventually issued one for a too narrow range of manufacture dates, and the last I remember for mine was a letter saying they’d fix it if I’d experienced the issue but not if I hadn’t , so not a real recall  

never heard of them blaming the driver though.  And I don’t pay much attention to Tesla but don’t they/musk hold it up as a better company than legacy auto brands?

Edited December 24, 2023 by Pato del Muerto

[Guadaloopy 10964]

12 minutes ago, Captainant said:

 

That fuck up in itself is an egregious outlier in how companies handle recalls. That doesn't happen with literally any other car manufacturers, much less the one that's larger than it's next 5 competitors combined. 

How old are you guys?  If I had time right now, I could link at least a half dozen stories of major auto manufacturers denying and obfuscating ahead of recalls over the decades.  

Edited December 24, 2023 by Guadaloopy

[Captainant 27660]

Just now, Guadaloopy said:

How old are you guys?  If I had time right now, I could link at least a half dozen of major auto manufacturers denying and obfuscating ahead of recalls over the decades.  

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism

[Guadaloopy 10964]

13 minutes ago, Captainant said:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whataboutism

I’m not trying to justify what Tesla has done re: suspension arms.  Just pointing out that they are not a uniquely terrible/evil example of an auto manufacturer.  

[troph 24787]

15 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

 

The Ram 1500 Rev and Ramcharger will go on sale late next year. The Rev is the Ram brand’s first fully electric truck and will be available with a driving range up to 500 miles before needing to recharge.

The Ram 1500 Ramcharger is a plug-in hybrid but it’s different in some important ways from most plug-in hybrid vehicles. It has a 6-cylinder gas engine in addition to powerful batteries and electric motors but it can go as far as 145 miles on battery power before needing the gas engine. That’s a greater EV-only range than most plug-in hybrids can manage. Also, it can use DC fast chargers to quickly refill its batteries which most plug-in hybrids can’t. Together, these factors mean Ramcharger could be used like a fully electric vehicle with the gas engine needed rarely.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/23/business/most-interesting-cars-coming-in-2024/index.html

that looks like it has a real truck bed, and having a gas engine but still going 145 miles on battery is interesting.

145 miles on a battery is not “rarely need the engine” territory imo, as an electric car driver since 2016. Electric range is much like fuel range - stated as optimum. How you accelerate, average speed, stop and go, payload, and ordinary battery degradation impact that. 
 

all of that said, I bought Tesla twice and probably won’t again. The positives are the company forced the market to move to EVs and software and user interface is much better than other cars even without car play. 
 

we have a Porsche macan (thanks twice horn for the rec) and an model X. There are things to not like about the Tesla X but at 7 years old it has held up remarkably well. I’ll drive it for a few more years while the traditional auto makers figure out EV drive trains but I will likely switch to Mercedes (last car before my two teslas) or another maker when the time comes.

as for recalls and cover ups, fuck all of them, right now tesla, before that VW, before that another one and before that another one. That’s capitalism for you (no CR and not a commie). 
 

as for Elon, fuck him in his goat ass. Fucker. Piece of shit, blight on society, poster child for a wealth tax what a fucking waste.

Edited December 24, 2023 by troph

[Captainant 27660]

2 minutes ago, Guadaloopy said:

I’m not trying to justify what Tesla has done re: suspension arms.  Just pointing out that they are not a uniquely terrible/evil example of an auto manufacturer.  

https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/bothsidesing-bothsidesism-new-words-were-watching

[HenryJames 66048]

https://www.engadget.com/tesla-is-recalling-120000-vehicles-in-the-us-over-a-door-safety-issue-114540716.html

 

[Captainant 27660]

2 minutes ago, HenryJames said:

https://www.engadget.com/tesla-is-recalling-120000-vehicles-in-the-us-over-a-door-safety-issue-114540716.html

 

IMO, it's not that there are recalls happening. They're pretty much always going to happen for anything operating at scale because fuckups happen and amplify down the line when you're making high volume things. 

What I do find contemptible is Teslas response to their findings of multiple major manufacturing defects - not software defects - and attempting to conceal it and push the cost onto their customers. It built a lie of a facade that Tesla was just better™ and was a big part of elmos ability to pump his TSLA shares. It was arguably fraudulent, considering they were selling cars with known defects and advertising/presenting them as bulletproof. 

[Poe It Up 126]

7 hours ago, Gatorubet said:

There is nothing “strange” about it for decent people.   But if thin-skinned racist assholes who are completely devoid of empathy for their fellow man are your cup of tea, by all means carry-on. 

He’s always been an inappropriate autistic guy. The surly cabal has really turned this place into sensitive horns. Cringe. 

[wildcat09 29353]

Yeah only a bunch of overly-sensitive crybabies would react negatively to someone saying they think Hitler was right about the Jews.

People like you should feel a lot freer about saying shit like that in public and not just the internet, if you think it’s just a bunch of internet pussies that don’t take kindly to it.

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13584]

14 minutes ago, HenryJames said:

https://www.engadget.com/tesla-is-recalling-120000-vehicles-in-the-us-over-a-door-safety-issue-114540716.html

 

Shit! I should have kept the Tommy Boy gif in the chamber.

[hornian 5217]

25 minutes ago, troph said:

145 miles on a battery is not “rarely need the engine” territory imo, as an electric car driver since 2016. Electric range is much like fuel range - stated as optimum. How you accelerate, average speed, stop and go, payload, and ordinary battery degradation impact that. 
 

all of that said, I bought Tesla twice and probably won’t again. The positives are the company forced the market to move to EVs and software and user interface is much better than other cars even without car play. 
 

we have a Porsche macan (thanks twice horn for the rec) and an model X. There are things to not like about the Tesla X but at 7 years old it has held up remarkably well. I’ll drive it for a few more years while the traditional auto makers figure out EV drive trains but I will likely switch to Mercedes (last car before my two teslas) or another maker when the time comes.

as for recalls and cover ups, fuck all of them, right now tesla, before that VW, before that another one and before that another one. That’s capitalism for you (no CR and not a commie). 
 

as for Elon, fuck him in his goat ass. Fucker. Piece of shit, blight on society, poster child for a wealth tax what a fucking waste.

Mercedes EVs suck coming from a tesla. They want to make it feel like an ICE, so you lose all the EV perks like get in and go, the instant torque, regen braking, and hold at stop. We test drove a ton when my wife's Tesla was totaled and she wound up in a Volvo EV, which drives great. The software on the Volvo leaves a lot to be desired, though. 

 

[Pato del Muerto 52490]

3 minutes ago, hornian said:

Mercedes EVs suck coming from a tesla. They want to make it feel like an ICE, so you lose all the EV perks like get in and go, the instant torque, regen braking, and hold at stop. We test drove a ton when my wife's Tesla was totaled and she wound up in a Volvo EV, which drives great. The software on the Volvo leaves a lot to be desired, though. 

 

Volvo is polestar too, right?  Their new SUB looks nice. The new karma ocean  SUV also looks nice.

Edited December 24, 2023 by Pato del Muerto

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13584]

11 minutes ago, wildcat09 said:

Yeah only a bunch of overly-sensitive crybabies would react negatively to someone saying they think Hitler was right about the Jews.

Lots of people say Hitler was right about the Jews, snowflake.

[Captain Ron 12876]

50 minutes ago, Guadaloopy said:

I’m not trying to justify what Tesla has done re: suspension arms.  Just pointing out that they are not a uniquely terrible/evil example of an auto manufacturer.  

So what you’re saying is Tesla is an evil auto maker, but whatabout all the other evil auto makers?

[troph 24787]

25 minutes ago, hornian said:

Mercedes EVs suck coming from a tesla. They want to make it feel like an ICE, so you lose all the EV perks like get in and go, the instant torque, regen braking, and hold at stop. We test drove a ton when my wife's Tesla was totaled and she wound up in a Volvo EV, which drives great. The software on the Volvo leaves a lot to be desired, though. 

 

Good to know thanks! Mercedes ICE was my last and it was my fav ICE for driving around town all things considered. 

[Poe It Up 126]

1 hour ago, wildcat09 said:

Yeah only a bunch of overly-sensitive crybabies would react negatively to someone saying they think Hitler was right about the Jews.

People like you should feel a lot freer about saying shit like that in public and not just the internet, if you think it’s just a bunch of internet pussies that don’t take kindly to it.

Yawn. I’ve been to synagogue more than 99% of this site and I haven’t bashed anyone. Well, except you pussies that have ruined this place. 

[elfenix 34237]

1 hour ago, troph said:

145 miles on a battery is not “rarely need the engine” territory imo, as an electric car driver since 2016. Electric range is much like fuel range - stated as optimum. How you accelerate, average speed, stop and go, payload, and ordinary battery degradation impact that. 

It’s well more than enough range for the accountant who lives in bridgelands commuting down to Conoco and back every day. And then handle taking his three kids, Aiden, Jayden, and Cayden, to football, baseball, and gymnastics afterward.

[atomheartbevo 89656]

Clearly, Musk should listen to what catturd2 has to say, now more than ever.  

[Pato del Muerto 52490]

*winter solstice celebration 

[Deej 76766]

On 12/23/2023 at 12:31 AM, Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand said:

Worst. Burning Man. Ever.

 

[Guadaloopy 10964]

2 hours ago, Captain Ron said:

So what you’re saying is Tesla is an evil auto maker, but whatabout all the other evil auto makers?

That’s not how “tu quoque” works.  If I was saying “other automakers do this, so it’s OK that Tesla does it”, then you would have a point.  
 

The general tone and theme re: Tesla in this thread is that Tesla has uniquely bad products and processes.  My only argument is that this is simply not the case.  

[Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13584]

That's what a Tesla's undercarriage hits after it's wheel flies off.

[wildcat09 29353]

Texashammer doing nazi trollling on Christmas Eve is so awesome. Just a huge fucking loser that nobody likes desperately seeking some joy in being an asshole online during his most important holiday. You love to see it.

[atomheartbevo 89656]

Before things get too heated, let’s try and take a step back on Christmas Eve and remember some words of wisdom about internet comments from this short tutorial (NSFW, he deals with some foul language).

 

 

Edited December 24, 2023 by atomheartbevo

[Thatguy 8690]

5 hours ago, Guadaloopy said:

That’s not how “tu quoque” works.  If I was saying “other automakers do this, so it’s OK that Tesla does it”, then you would have a point.  
 

The general tone and theme re: Tesla in this thread is that Tesla has uniquely bad products and processes.  My only argument is that this is simply not the case.  

My personal experience is my Tesla had seemingly little sound deadening material and had a lot of road noise compared to my wife's A6. It tried to kill me twice on the highway by slamming on the brakes because the car read that the barrier wall through the chicane was in front of it. After about 25k the window would leak at the carwash in the rinse cycle when the sprayer hit it. Didn't leak when it rained though. Hot as shit this last summer with the glass roof. Got rid of it. Ultimately it was a fun car for a bit but a shit product once you got some miles on it, and the programming in it seemed dangerous. I turned everything I could off. Probably won't buy another.

[MissingInAction 25057]

[Fudge Nuggets 19190]

On 12/23/2023 at 12:31 PM, ROFL BOX said:

That’s Kari Lake without the filter lense. 

[Fudge Nuggets 19190]

19 hours ago, troph said:

Good to know thanks! Mercedes ICE was my last and it was my fav ICE for driving around town all things considered. 

I’ve never been much of a car guy, I just want something that can get me from A to B and at least not look like an incel dork (sorry Tesla). But got damn, I love my Mercedes. First car I ever really enjoy driving. 

[Post Oak 20213]

 

[Francisco 2.0 32389]

Thing is, this is much closer to the truth.  Elon could do this in real life and there would be multitudes racing each other to get the chance:

 

 

 

 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13511]

On 12/24/2023 at 7:59 AM, Captainant said:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/twitter-violated-contract-pay-millions-bonuses-us-judge-rules-rcna131034

WASHINGTON — Twitter violated contracts by failing to pay millions of dollars in bonuses that the social media company, now called X Corp, had promised its employees, a federal judge ruled on Friday.

Mark Schobinger, who was Twitter’s senior director of compensation before leaving Elon Musk’s company in May, sued Twitter in June, claiming breach of contract.

 

Schobinger’s suit alleged that before and after billionaire Musk bought Twitter last year, it promised employees 50% of their 2022 target bonuses but never made those payments.

Quote

Twitter’s lawyers argued that the company made only an oral promise that was not a contract

Think about this argument. Twitter is not denying that the employees were promised a bonus. Instead they're arguing that their owner verbally lied to employees and that shouldn't constitute a contract. 

[Captain Ron 12876]

31 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

Think about this argument. Twitter is not denying that the employees were promised a bonus. Instead they're arguing that their owner verbally lied to employees and that shouldn't constitute a contract. 

Actually this argument is saying: “yeah we entered into, legally binding but very difficult to prove, oral contracts, and we’re admitting we actually said them!!”

[MrBig 5397]

On 12/24/2023 at 8:01 AM, Guadaloopy said:

Improper use of the driver assist functions in Tesla’s caused deadly accidents.  

Improper use of driver assist functions (cruise control and lane-keeping) has caused automobile accidents for decades.

People misuse technology    Reel at 11.

 
 

 

Improper use of driver assist functions has caused accidents in many types of vehicles.

The issue with Tesla is that their driver assist functions are improperly marketed to make people believe the car is autonomous.

The term “Autopilot” instead of lane-assistant or cruise control makes people believe the car is capable of doing shit by itself because that’s how the term autopilot has been used in the aviation industry. Tesla absolves itself of any responsibility by saying the car isn’t fully autonomous with some fine print.

You think your car and it’s $8000 “Full Self Driving” system means the car can drive itself. In reality, FSD is just the name of another driver-assist function that goes one step beyond Autopilot by reading light signals and making turns, but this doesn’t mean it’s autonomous.

There’s no way people would be paying thousands more for FSD if it was called what it really is. “Car-initiated Navigation with Street Sign and Signal Recognition for Pedestrian and Auto Accident Avoidance Requiring the Necessary Supervision of a Human Driver at All Times.” But Full-Self Driving it is, now take my money.

[HenryJames 66048]

On 12/25/2023 at 3:29 AM, Fudge Nuggets said:

I’ve never been much of a car guy, I just want something that can get me from A to B and at least not look like an incel dork (sorry Tesla). But got damn, I love my Mercedes. First car I ever really enjoy driving. 

#humblebrag

[C-Man 27221]

EXCLUSIVETesla robot ATTACKS an engineer at company's Texas factory during violent malfunction - leaving 'trail of blood' and forcing workers to hit emergency shutdown button

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12869629/Tesla-robot-ATTACKS-engineer-companys-Texas-factory-violent-malfunction-leaving-trail-blood-forcing-workers-hit-emergency-shutdown-button.html

One in every 21 Giga Texas workers was injured on the job in 2022

Quote

A Tesla engineer was attacked by a robot during a brutal and bloody malfunction at the company's Giga Texas factory near Austin.

Two witnesses watched in horror as their fellow employee was attacked by the machine designed to grab and move freshly cast aluminum car parts. 

The robot had pinned the man, who was then programming software for two disabled Tesla robots nearby, before sinking its metal claws into the worker's back and arm, leaving a 'trail of blood' along the factory surface.

Continue watchingThe terrifying sounds that hinted Iceland's volcano was ready to blowafter the ad

The incident - which left the victim with an 'open wound' on his left hand - was revealed in a 2021 injury report filed to Travis county and federal regulators, which has been reviewed by DailyMail.com.

While no other robot-related injures were reported to regulators by Tesla at the Texas factory in either 2021 or 2022, the incident comes amid years of heightened concerns over the risks of automated robots in the workplace.

Reports of increased injuries due to robotic coworkers at Amazon shipment centers, killer droid-surgeons, self-driving cars, and even violence from robotic chess instructors, have led some to question speedy integration of the new tech.  

The injury report, which Tesla must submit to authorities by law to maintain its lucrative tax breaks in Texas, claimed the engineer did not require time off of work.

But one attorney who represents Tesla's Giga Texas contract workers has told DailyMail.com she believes, based on her conversations with workers there, that the amount of injuries suffered at the factory is going underreported. 

This underreporting, the attorney said, even included the September 28, 2021 death of a construction worker, who had been contracted to help build the factory itself.

'My advice would be to read that report with a grain of salt,' the attorney, Hannah Alexander of the nonprofit Workers Defense Project, told DailyMail.com. 

'We've had multiple workers who were injured,' Alexander said, 'and one worker who died, whose injuries or death are not in these reports that Tesla is supposed to be accurately completing and submitting to the county in order to get tax incentives.' 

That construction worker, a contractor named Antelmo Ramírez, died of heat stroke while helping build Tesla's over 2,000-acre long Giga Texas factory, according to a report from the Travis County medical examiner. 

Last year, Workers Defense Project filed a complaint on behalf of workers at the Giga Texas factory (above) with the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), alleging Tesla's contractors and subcontractors gave some hires false safety certificates

Last year, Workers Defense Project filed a complaint on behalf of workers at Giga Texas with the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), alleging Tesla's contractors and subcontractors gave some hires false safety certificates.

'Workers report that when they needed training, they were simply sent PDF files or images of certificates through text or WhatsApp in a matter of days,' Alexander told local NBC affiliate KXAN. 'There's no conceivable way workers could have even taken the training required.' 

Alexander's allegations on underreported workplace injuries at the Tesla site, if accurate, would follow a trend of similar findings by state regulators and investigative journalism nonprofits over the years.

A report by the Center for Investigative Reporting's Reveal team found that the company had misclassified a number of on-the-job accidents and injuries as 'personal medical' cases to evade state regulators

California OSHA investigators, for example, found that Tesla had left out 36 injuries in its required government filings in 2018 alone — confirming a prior report by the Center for Investigative Reporting's Reveal team, which found that the company had misclassified a number of on-the-job accidents and injuries as 'personal medical' cases to evade California regulators.

Prior to California OSHA's findings, Tesla had stated that Reveal's claims were 'completely false,' and accused the group of secretly collaborating with laborers who were then attempting to unionize the automaker's California plant. 

A copy of Tesla's 2021 Annual Compliance Report for Giga Texas, however, does at least document the software engineer's bloody robot attack, albeit in slim detail. 

The scant November 10, 2021, entry describes how a 'laceration, cut, open wound' was inflicted on an 'engineer' for which the 'cause object' was a 'robot.' 

According to Tesla, the engineer's wounds, which were inflicted on his left hand, required 'zero' days off from work for recovery. 

The two eyewitnesses to the event — which occurred in the section of the Texas factory floor where vehicle chassis are first assembled — told reporters for The Information a more harrowing story, however.

As the bleeding Tesla engineer attempted to wrestle free from the assembly robot's grasp, another worker hit an emergency 'stop' button to end the attack.

Once free, the engineer fell 'a couple of feet down a chute designed to collect scrap aluminum, leaving a trail of blood behind him,' according to The Information, a subscription-based tech news site.

The incident highlights a larger trend told in Tesla's self-reported data on injuries to government authorities: Tesla's Giga Texas plant outpaces the rest of the auto industry both in total accidents and accidents serious enough to require time off.

A ratio of nearly one out of every 21 workers at Tesla's Giga Texas factory was injured on the job in 2022, according to a review by The Information, compared to an industry median rate of one in every 30 workers. 

Based on Tesla's own reporting to OSHA, Giga Texas outpaces the rest of the auto industry both in total accidents and accidents serious enough to require time off

For more severe on-the-job injuries, that ratio came out to roughly one in every 26 workers at Tesla's Texas factory, per 2022 filing data on injuries that led to either missed days of work or transfers to other job duties.

For comparison, the median rate at which such injuries occur at other large US auto factories amounted to one in every 38 workers. 

To correct and compensate for scale, only US auto plants with 250 workers or more were compared to Tesla's massive Giga Texas plant for the news site's analysis of this data — which had been delivered by Tesla itself to OSHA via mandatory Form 300 reports. 

According to sources who spoke to The Information, the rapid two-year construction of the Giga Texas facility added to the lax safety and increased injuries. 

Tesla fan or 'insight' blogs, like Tesmanian, called it 'Elon Speed' at the time, boasting that 'Tesla has approved three crew shifts to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.' 

'Now the construction is actually going on without interruption,' the site explained, 'and will be completed much faster than expected.' 

Tesla's self-reported worker injuries run the gamut from blunt force trauma to chemical exposures to machine accidents that left some laborers recuperating for months at a time.

Tesla's OSHA reports include sprains, cuts and fractures from workers getting caught on machines, as well as sicknesses stemming from contact with toxins like ammonia.

One production associate was unable to work for 127 days (over four months) after their ankle was caught by a moving cart in August 2022. 

Soon after, a material handler was struck in the head by a metal object, leaving an injury that took 85 days to recuperate from, according to OSHA's records.

While news coverage and Tesla's own press materials frequently describe the factory as being based in Austin, the Giga factory is more accurately located in a nearby 'unincorporated' area known as Del Valle. Tesla scored over $60 million in tax breaks for choosing the location

While news coverage and Tesla's own press materials frequently describe the factory as being based in Austin, the Giga factory is more accurately located in a nearby 'unincorporated' area known as Del Valle in that same county.

According to Bloomberg, Tesla scored over $60 million in tax breaks from Travis County and the Del Valle Independent School District for choosing the location. 

But those tax incentives were intended to come with strict requirements that Musk's company might not be following, according to Alexander, the attorney with the Workers Defense Project. 

'There is this requirement that Tesla compile a compliance report every year for the purposes of this 'economic development' incentive agreement,' Alexander told DailyMail.com via phone.

'What I've found — with a lot of the construction workers I've talked to, who've had injuries — is that their injuries haven't been in the report,' Alexander said.

'Like the worker who died, Antelmo Ramírez, his death was not recorded,' the Austin-based attorney continued, 'and the agreement between the county [Travis County] and Tesla — or with, you know, the Colorado River Project, LLC, the entity that Tesla was 'doing business as' here — was very clear.'

'They're supposed to report every construction worker injury or death, and not just the injuries and deaths of people directly employed by Tesla, but any construction worker that was operating on the site.'

Tesla is recalling nearly all of the vehicles it sold in the U.S, more than 2 million across its model lineup, to fix a defective system that's supposed to ensure drivers are paying attention when they use Autopilot. 

The exact language on this issue appears on page 12 of the July 14th, 2020 agreement now available to the public on the Tavis County website. 

'Company [Tesla] shall provide a report to the County on an annual basis by March 31 [2021] specifying the number of injuries and deaths, if any, that may have occurred in the performance of the construction of the Colorado River Project [Tesla's Giga factory],' the agreement reads.

But, while Tesla might be an outlier in terms of injuries within the automotive industry, the company is right at home in the Lone Star state, which ranks as the most deadly place to be a construction worker in the US.

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, construction workers in Texas were 22-percent more likely to die on the job in Texas than anywhere else in the country.

'A construction worker dies every three days in Texas,' Alexander told DailyMail.com.

'The impetus for Tesla coming to Texas, based on other reporting, was that the company was not pleased with having the health and safety protections that California had at the time,' she said.

Those reports, including coverage in the Dallas Morning News, suggested that Musk moved Tesla's headquarters and manufacturing 'after becoming frustrated with restrictions in California during the COVID-19 pandemic.' 

Due, in part, to the Giga Texas's sprawling size — over 10 million square-feet of floor space or nearly 100 football fields in total area — the company decided to put portions of the factory into operation while the rest was still being built. 

'They continued to construct other parts of it as it was starting to operate,' according to Alexander, 'as early as April 2022, that's whenever Mr. Musk put on the cowboy hat and had the Cyber Rodeo there.'  

This, the attorney argues, may have contributed to the factory workers' above-average injury rates.

DailyMail.com has reached out for comment to Tesla, which dissolved its US media relations team in October 2020. 

This article will be amended if the company responds.

 

[nbmishoid 949]

On 12/25/2023 at 3:29 AM, Fudge Nuggets said:

I’ve never been much of a car guy, I just want something that can get me from A to B and at least not look like an incel dork (sorry Tesla). But got damn, I love my Mercedes. First car I ever really enjoy driving. 

More MBZ love.  Our 2014 ML350 has just under 50k miles.  It will surely go another 10 years.   EV selection should be easy then.