Tesla is reportedly under federal safety probe over allegations of failing battery cooling systems in early Tesla Model S vehicles.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed that they are close to finishing their report based on investigations of several crashes involving electric vehicles catching fire.
In a statement to LA Times, NTSB said that they are “in the final stages of completing a Special Investigative Report based upon its investigations of several crashes involving electric vehicles and the resultant battery fires/thermal events.”
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Unlike the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the NTSB has no enforcement power but NHTSA said that it’s “well aware of the reports regarding this issue and will take action if appropriate based upon the facts and data.”
NHTSA also added that carmakers are required to “notify the agency within five days of when the manufacturer becomes aware of a safety-related defect and conduct a recall.”
According to a recent report from Business Insider citing leaked internal emails, Tesla installed cooling tubes that were prone to leak inside the battery of Model S vehicles beginning in 2012. The faulty components were used in the Tesla Model S from 2012 until 2016 when the carmaker cut off the Chinese supplier and started making them in house.
That report said Tesla knew of the flawed battery cooling system of the Model S but sold the cars anyway. Sources added that the cooling tubes’ end fittings didn’t quite match up with the connection to the car and had to be forced into position, sometimes with a hammer.
It’s not clear if and when the cooling system problems were fixed before Tesla decided to manufacture the component in-house in 2016. It’s also not known if the issue affects the Model X, which featured the same cooling system.
The Tesla Model 3, which was launched in 2017, uses a different, more efficient cooling system that doesn’t use the coil design of the Model S and Model X vehicles.
