In an October 7, 2018 blog post, Tesla claimed that the Model 3 achieves the lowest probability of injury of any vehicle ever tested by NHTSA. Alas, no.
NHTSA Chief Counsel Jonathan Morrison sent Tesla CEO Elon Musk a cease-and-desist letter in October last year to say it had become aware of “misleading statements” made by the company about the vehicle’s safety rating.
The agency’s main contention was with Tesla’s claim in a blog post that month that NHTSA tests showed the Model 3 has “the lowest probability of injury of all cars the safety agency has ever tested.”
Tldr, the agency insists that its crash ratings in the warehouse, the stars, aren’t injury probabilities on the road. Here’s the cease-and-decist sent to Tesla, exposed with a FOIA request.
It includes a response from Al Prescott, Tesla’s deputy chief counsel, telling the NHTSA it doesn’t understand its own safety tests and claiming that it is “taking sides” among auto manufacturers.
