Why and how to joyfully move our butts around town, without mucking the place up.

Tesla denying Takata airbag recall for salvage/rebuild cars

; Date: April 4, 2018

Tags: Tesla Motors

Takata airbags can decompose and once in that state, if triggered the airbag will spew shrapnel on the passenger causing physical harm and possibly death. This is a big big safety deal, so why is Tesla refusing to replace these airbags for folks who've repaired and rebuilt a Tesla car? For that matter, why is Tesla going out of its way to throw roadblocks in the way of folks who've done so? Repairing and rebuilding cars is a widespread hobby/practice, and other car manufacturers support the rebuilders with parts and diagnostics tools. Not so with Tesla.

At issue is the Right To Repair - that car owners have the right to repair their own car.

For that purpose, car makers sell spare parts and diagnostics tools and repair manuals. Lots of people take cars apart, put them back together, perform upgrades, and on and on.

Tesla - for all the positive goodwill the company is engendering, and all the postive ideas the company expresses, is veering towards evil with this one issue. Tesla is doing its best to dominate the repair of Tesla's cars. One wonders why.

Numerous stories have surfaced of someone getting a "totalled" Tesla car and rebuilding it, only to get a cease-and-desist letter from Tesla. Or, that their car is recorded as "unsupported" and therefore they cannot get Supercharger access, the autopilot might be turned off, and more.

(longtailpipe.com) https://longtailpipe.com/2014/10/23/tesla-motors-might-franchise-dealers/

(longtailpipe.com) https://longtailpipe.com/2014/03/14/tesla-motors-monopoly-over-service/

Source: (www.youtube.com) Rich Rebuilds

A friend of mine reached out to me with this gem. Does Tesla have the right to turn their customers away? Can they decide who they should and shouldn’t help?...
David Herron
David Herron is a writer and software engineer focusing on the wise use of technology. He is especially interested in clean energy technologies like solar power, wind power, and electric cars. David worked for nearly 30 years in Silicon Valley on software ranging from electronic mail systems, to video streaming, to the Java programming language, and has published several books on Node.js programming and electric vehicles.