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Tesla Accused of Knowingly Selling Defective Cars by Former Employee

Like any successful company, Tesla Inc. has had its fair share of lawsuits filed against it. It won some, it lost some, but overall, you wouldn't say its reputation has been tarnished more than what the average carmaker can expect.
Tesla showroom 1 photo
Photo: Tesla Inc.
Now, the EV manufacturer is facing another trial after being sued once more by one of its former employees. This time, however, it's not the working conditions that were at fault, nor did the employee feel mistreated by allegedly getting fired for supporting the idea of unionization, like in previous cases.

Adam Williams sued Tesla after he says was laid off for uncovering a questionable Tesla practice. More to the point, Williams claims he lost his job because he blew the whistle on the company's policy of selling vehicles that had been returned by previous owners as lemons.

The plaintiff says he became aware of the practice in late 2016 or early 2017, at which point he reported his findings to his superiors. Instead of investigating or at least giving him an answer, Williams says he was demoted twice before finally being fired in September last year from his position as Mobile Manager.

Since there's an ongoing lawsuit, we'll just have to wait and see what the court decides, but if it turns out to be true, it would certainly be a stain on Tesla's image, even though the overwhelming majority of people seem to be happy with their Teslas.

That's mostly the idea Tesla highlighted in its statement regarding the lawsuit (via electrek): “There’s no merit to this lawsuit. Mr. Williams’ description of how Tesla sells used or loaner vehicles is totally false and not how we do things at Tesla. It’s also at odds with the fact that we rank highest in customer satisfaction of any car brand, with more owners saying they’d buy a Tesla again than any other manufacturer. Mr. Williams was terminated at Tesla for performance reasons, not for any other reason.”

It could very well be nothing more than an aggrieved former employee who is now trying to make some extra bucks off his former employer, or it could be a company that's so greedy, it'll resell any vehicle no matter how bad it is. If it's the latter, we'll definitely hear more about it.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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