SAN FRANCISCO — An Apple engineer who died when his Tesla Model X slammed into a concrete barrier had previously complained about the SUV malfunctioning on that same stretch of Silicon Valley freeway. His complaints were detailed in a trove of documents released Tuesday by federal investigators in two Tesla...
US Agency Examining Tesla Unintended Acceleration Complaint
DETROIT — The U.S. government's auto safety agency is looking into allegations that all three of Tesla's electric vehicle models can suddenly accelerate on their own. Brian Sparks of Berkeley, California, petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration asking for an investigation. An agency document shows 127 owner complaints to...
US Agency Examining Tesla Unintended Acceleration Complaint
DETROIT — The U.S. government's auto safety agency is looking into allegations that all three of Tesla's electric vehicles can suddenly accelerate on their own. An unidentified person petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration asking for an investigation into the problem. An agency document outlining the allegations shows 127...
3 Crashes, 3 Deaths Raise Questions About Tesla's Autopilot
DETROIT — Three crashes involving Teslas that killed three people have increased scrutiny of the company’s Autopilot driving system just months before CEO Elon Musk has planned to put fully self-driving cars on the streets. On Sunday, a Tesla Model S sedan left a freeway in Gardena, California, at a...
Tesla 2019 Sales Hit Goals, Rise Over 50% From Previous Year
DETROIT — Tesla's global deliveries rose more than 50% last year, meaning the company surpassed the low end of its sales goals for 2019. The announcement Friday pushed Tesla's shares up more than 4% to a record high of $449.37. The stock hit a record last week in anticipation of...
Feds Will Investigate Deadly Tesla Crash in California
GARDENA — The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating the crash of a speeding Tesla that killed two people in a Los Angeles suburb, the agency announced Tuesday. Agency spokesman Sean Rushton wouldn’t say whether the Tesla Model S was on Autopilot when it crashed on Dec. 29 in...
Tesla CEO Musk Facing Defamation Trial for 'Pedo Guy' Tweet
LOS ANGELES — Elon Musk is going on trial Tuesday for his troublesome tweets in a defamation case pitting the billionaire against a British diver he allegedly branded a pedophile. The Tesla CEO will be called to testify early in the case in Los Angeles federal court to explain what...
Stainless Steel, Broken Glass and Buzz, Tesla Makes a Pickup
The much-hyped unveil of Tesla’s electric pickup truck went off script Thursday night when supposedly unbreakable window glass shattered twice when hit with a large metal ball. The failed stunt, which ranks high on the list of embarrassing auto industry rollouts, came just after CEO Elon Musk bragged about the...
Tesla Heads Down New Road With Car Insurance in California
SAN FRANCISCO — Tesla owners in California can now buy insurance from the electric car company in what may be the first step toward the unconventional automaker providing coverage for a fleet of driverless taxis. The expansion announced this week comes four months after Tesla CEO Elon Musk told analysts the company...
Police Say Tesla in Crash Killing Clovis Man Not on AutoPilot
SAN FRANCISCO — A rented Tesla that was speeding when it ran a red light and killed Benjamin Dean of Clovis was not on semi-autonomous Autopilot mode, police said Wednesday. Detectives removed a data storage device from the automobile that will be analyzed to help determine the actions that led...