In the middle of the chip crisis: Tesla is cheating on car manufacturers - thousands of cars in Germany are affected

Created: 02/23/2022, 2:45 p.m

By: Michelle Brey

During the chip crisis, Telsa around Elon Musk simply did not build a central car part into the vehicles.

© Susan Walsh

Tesla made huge profits in 2021 - despite the chip crisis.

Now it turns out that Elon Musk's company simply didn't include a key auto part.

Munich – Many car manufacturers groaned under the global chip crisis and problems in the supply chain – except for Tesla*.

The US electrical manufacturer even earned more in 2021 than ever before in a financial year.

According to Tesla, it made a profit of 5.5 billion dollars (4.9 billion euros), 665 percent more than in the previous year.

In the annual report, the company of tech billionaire Elon Musk* even described 2021 as the “breakthrough year for Tesla”.

As the

reported, however, the car manufacturer simply did not install a central part in a number of cars.

Tesla: Musk company simply omits important car part

The news portal claims to have learned from internal chat histories that the US automaker simply omitted one of two control units for the vehicle steering.

The chat histories should be available to the

.

Tesla did not inform its customers of this.

Insiders had confirmed to the US news channel

that the measure had been implemented.

Tens of thousands of vehicles of the models * 3 and Y are affected. 13,500 units were delivered to Germany alone.

Europe-wide, the number is 65,000 cars.

writes this

with reference to an internal document.

Control unit not installed: what are the consequences for Tesla customers?

Finally, for customers who receive one of the cars with a missing second control module, a visit to the car repair shop should be necessary.

A digital update that is to be played on the car "over the air" to enable autonomous driving is then no longer sufficient.

As reported by

, the second control unit is essential for "Full Self-Driving".

According to the chat histories, this non-built-in component is essential to ensure safety in a self-driving car.

Specifically, level 3 of autonomous driving was mentioned in this context, when drivers are allowed to take their hands off the wheel.

For this level, a retrofit of the Tesla cars is necessary.

With the current state of autonomous driving, the uninstalled part would not pose a safety risk.

Tesla action illegal?

- "No conclusive assessment" by the German Federal Motor Transport Authority

According to representatives of the German auto industry, the procedure should not be illegal.

According to the news portal, RDW, the Dutch registration authority, also sees no violation of the regulations.

The German Federal Motor Transport Authority could give "no final assessment" in this regard, it said.

The Flensburg authority is therefore waiting for a statement from Tesla.

Elon Musk's company initially did not comment on the events either.

Only recently, a partner of BMW Tesla had made violent allegations and ridiculed.

The Elon Musk didn't let that sit on him.