Jump seat seat belt failure

[ckessel]

Jerry just pointed out how long it took for the battery protection pieces to be delivered once the NHTSA got involved.

Citation required.

I've never seen, nor heard of anything to support this claim. Unless you can document some proof, this is, again, more anti-government zealotry.

Some facts:

• The 3rd Tesla fire was on Nov 6th 2013.
• Nov 15th 2013 NHTSA opened and investigation
  [*][URL="http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/cs/jaxrs/download/doc/UCM446999/INIM-PE13037-58212.pdf"]Tesla receives an official request for information on Nov 27th.
• [/URL]Dec 23 2013 NHTSA reaffirms 5 star rating
• March 26th, 2014 NHTSA closes investigation
  The investigation notes "A defect trend has not been identified".
  Further, it notes that Tesla demonstrated the underbody on March 10th: "Testing conducted by Tesla demonstrated that these modifications improved protection from debris impacts."
• March 28th Tesla blogs about under body fix

To demonstrate on March 10th, and go public with a blog post on the 28th, Tesla must have been working on it for a long while. Tesla notes "152 vehicle level tests" in the blog post.

So, about 4 months from the time of the 3rd fire to a fix that had been designed, developed, machined, tested, and publicly announced as ready. The only NHTSA involvement stated was the demo on March 10th, basically after Tesla was done with the work.

 

[Chris TX]

Citation required.

I've never seen, nor heard of anything to support this claim. Unless you can document some proof, this is, again, more anti-government zealotry.

So should I just ask Elon if he thinks there was a possibility that dealing with the NHTSA slowed things down? Getting the NHTSA involved with the fires last year was a PR stunt, plain and simple. He would only say he's glad they got involved because it helped the stock prices. You're not going to find a Tesla employee that will publicly say what it's really like dealing with them, nor will you get any other OEM to do that. You don't want to get on the NHTSA's bad side, now do you?

 

[Tasdevil]

The skid plates, where the NHTSA was involved, took months to implement rather than weeks--a lot of the time appeared to be taken up with red tape rather than engineering. I'd rather have the problem fixed correctly sooner rather than later.

What if the seats are made by a 3rd party?
I wouldn't be surprised if the same locking mechanism is used in other restraint applications(by other manufacturers), because sometimes it's more trouble to reinvent the wheel.

 

[NOLA_Mike]

I believe if during their investigation Tesla finds this to be a safety defect they are required to report it to NHTSA themselves.

 

[TSLA Pilot]

Alysashley79, you're not getting it.

You NEED to send a quick write up to the NHTSA so that they can have the data. Let me repeat: This is not "Chicken Little" it's DATA COLLECTION. You could end up saving some child's life.

If everyone felt that their case was unique or a "one off" and didn't send in their situation, no one would ever know. The NHTSA has to have data because with data they can investigate trends.

Here's the link; please step up and do the right thing here which is to REPORT IT. Thanks.

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/index.xhtml

or follow the link at:

Home | Safercar -- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)

 

[Alysashley79]

Guys- I DO get it! As I said before in my last post I'd like to wait until the car goes in tomorrow and talk to them to see specifically WHAT part failed for sure. They do have the responsibility to report this to the NHTSA themselves and also like I said in my previous post if I feel after talking to them that I need to address this myself I will.

I'm not just a tesla fanboy that doesn't want tesla to get a bad rep. I am a person that believes that tesla will do the right here and even if they do have their seats manufactured elsewhere (and yes they do) they will either rectify the problem or they'll do a recall. I guess I believe they'll do the right thing because they always have in the past. We can all I'm sure come up with a laundry list of crap that's failed on our car since we bought it. At least I can it would be six pages long...but every single time they've fixed or replaced it and shortly thereafter I've seen a fix in newer cars etc. based on the fact that I called on Monday morning and within an hour they told me via email and pics I sent them they were replacing the seats and keeping mine so that they can use it for reserch that tells me that they aren't taking this lightly.

 

[ckessel]

Guys- I DO get it! As I said before in my last post I'd like to wait until the car goes in tomorrow and talk to them to see specifically WHAT part failed for sure. They do have the responsibility to report this to the NHTSA themselves and also like I said in my previous post if I feel after talking to them that I need to address this myself I will.

Indeed, if Tesla is required to report then there's no need to. In my case, I'd ask to make sure it was going to get reported, but that's me.

I also don't assume someone else is going to report an accident that just occurred, or crime I see, or a fire, or a lost child, etc. I take it as my responsibility as a good citizen to ensure proper folks are notified. If that means it got reported twice, no harm done.

I am a person that believes that tesla will do the right here and even if they do have their seats manufactured elsewhere (and yes they do) they will either rectify the problem or they'll do a recall.

I believe the same. Absolutely no one here has suggested Tesla will do otherwise. Some folks have incorrectly assumed that alerting NHTSA must somehow mean a desire to punish Tesla. That's simply not true and the association is a creation of their own assumptions.

 

[Chris TX]

... Some folks have incorrectly assumed that alerting NHTSA must somehow mean a desire to punish Tesla. That's simply not true and the association is a creation of their own assumptions.

It doesn't punish Tesla, it has the chance to punish all of us that would like a timely fix for a possible design flaw in the seat belts of our third row seats.

You want these guys "helping" Tesla to come up with something for us?

Excuses for why NHTSA struggles to oversight automakers | DCCarGeek

 

[ckessel]

It doesn't punish Tesla, it has the chance to punish all of us that would like a timely fix for a possible design flaw in the seat belts of our third row seats.

You want these guys "helping" Tesla to come up with something for us?

Excuses for why NHTSA struggles to oversight automakers | DCCarGeek

*sigh*

First, NHTSA doesn't "come up" with anything for Tesla. If a problem is determined, the manufacturer is responsible for the engineering.
Second, most of that article supports the idea that NHTSA needs all the help consumers can give it in terms of reporting issues.

You're spreading FUD about NHTSA's goals and purpose that's dangerously close to conspiracy theorist territory. And that would be putting it politely.

Perhaps you could specifically explain:
- What NHTSA will do that interferes in Tesla's development?
- When NHTSA does it, at which points, exactly?
- How, specifically, do they accomplish this interference?

Provide specific examples please, backed by links to at least some sort of documented. You're making claims. Back them up.

 

[Chris TX]

*sigh*

First, NHTSA doesn't "come up" with anything for Tesla. If a problem is determined, the manufacturer is responsible for the engineering.
Second, most of that article supports the idea that NHTSA needs all the help consumers can give it in terms of reporting issues.

You're spreading FUD about NHTSA's goals and purpose that's dangerously close to conspiracy theorist territory. And that would be putting it politely.

Perhaps you could specifically explain:
- What NHTSA will do that interferes in Tesla's development?
- When NHTSA does it, at which points, exactly?
- How, specifically, do they accomplish this interference?

Provide specific examples please, backed by links to at least some sort of documented. You're making claims. Back them up.

How about you give us all here a hint as to how the NHTSA would "help" Tesla with solving the seat belt issue. I don't see you backing up any of your claims, either.

Check out how long it took for Tesla to address safety concerns like the seat belt bolt WITHOUT the NHTSA's involvement. Then, take that timeframe and put it up against how long it took for Tesla to come up with a solution with the NHTSA's help regarding the battery punctures. That's the evidence you might be searching for.

 

[Gizmotoy]

How about you give us all here a hint as to how the NHTSA would "help" Tesla with solving the seat belt issue. I don't see you backing up any of your claims, either.

Check out how long it took for Tesla to address safety concerns like the seat belt bolt WITHOUT the NHTSA's involvement. Then, take that timeframe and put it up against how long it took for Tesla to come up with a solution with the NHTSA's help regarding the battery punctures. That's the evidence you might be searching for.

I think that italicized part is the main disconnect between you two. The reality is that the NHTSA doesn't give a crap about Tesla one way or the other, and they're certainly not out to help them. Their goal is to protect consumers. They're not there to help Tesla, they're there to help you.

To the second point, there's no meaningful data you can infer one way or the other from two completely unrelated events with completely unrelated complexity. Especially so without insider knowledge.

 

[russman]

What this tells me is that as parents, we may trust our kids to do the right things, but we should also verify. I try to always double check my kid's seatbelt and make sure it's positioned correctly and set right. I wondering if being in the rear seats makes it too far and cause people to get complacent about checking.

Even a 5 point harness is ineffective if too loose.

Double check to make sure everything is working and in decent condition.