Tesla recently recalled tens of thousands of imported models in China, all for reasons related to vehicle suspensions. However, the company believes that the suspensions of these vehicles are not actually defective.
China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) announced on October 23 that Tesla Motors (Beijing) Ltd. has filed a recall plan. The vehicles involved are some of the Model S and Model X models imported from the United States, and more than 48,000 vehicles are being recalled due to problems with the vehicles' suspensions.
However, Tesla argues that these Model S and Model X suspensions are not actually defective and that China is essentially forcing an unnecessary recall.
In a letter sent to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NTHSA), Elizabeth H. Mykytiuk, Tesla's managing counsel for regulatory affairs alleged that China forced Tesla to issue the recall.
"Due to the opinion of SAMR/DPAC that the topic required a recall in the China market, Tesla was left with the choice of either voluntarily recalling the subject vehicles or carrying a heavy burden through the Chinese administrative process. While Tesla disagrees with the opinion of SAMR/DPAC, the Company has decided not to dispute a recall for the China market only."
Meanwhile, Mykytiuk wrote in the letter, "Tesla has not determined that a defect exists in either the Front Suspension Aft Link or the Rear Suspension Upper Link and believes the root cause of the issue is driver abuse, including that driver usage and expectation for damageability is uniquely severe in the China market. If the customer inputs an abuse load (e.g., curb impact, severe pothole strike, etc.), then the parts may be damaged, leading either to immediate failure or delayed failure from the compounding effects of the initial abuse and subsequent load input."
Tesla said that the percentage of similar suspension issues occurring in China is 0.1 percent and the average for the rest of the world is 0.05 percent.
The vehicles were all manufactured in the US and used the same suspension as all other Model S and Model Xs produced during the same period.
The NHTSA has been researching potential problems with Tesla's Model S and Model X suspensions since 2016, but they have found no defects.
Whether it's the suspension itself that's a problem with this imported batch of vehicles, or whether, as Tesla describes, the Chinese market is experiencing suspension problems at a much higher rate than other regions, more data needs to be revealed.
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