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SEC probes Tesla over whistleblower claims on solar panel defects

ckastner 5y ago
Whistleblowers becoming active after they have been fired are often ascribed retaliatory motives, but there's an interesting tidbit towards the middle: > Walmart in a 2019 lawsuit against Tesla said the latter's roof solar system led to seven store fires.
- judge2020 5y ago
  Was settled https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/walmart-settlement-with-tesla-on-solar-panel-fire https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/walmart-settlem...
  - simion314 5y ago
    As usual with secret terms.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- simion314 5y ago
  From my reading >Henkes, in the SEC complaint, said he told Tesla management that Tesla needs to shut down the fire-prone solar systems, report to safety regulators and notify consumers. it appears this person did not stayed quiet and only start speaking after getting fired, he did the right thing and was fired because of that(allegedly).
- tyingq 5y ago
  >Whistleblowers becoming active after they have been fired are often ascribed retaliatory motives They are also often fired for complaining internally about the thing they whistleblow about after being fired...
  - ckastner 5y ago
    Indeed. Just to be clear, the internal complaint preceding the firing is apparently documented, and I did not mean to imply any particular motive. On the contrary: I found the that an otherwise unconnected third party, Walmart no less, would sue over this very supportive of the claim.
- Alex3917 5y ago
  I have these in my roof. I certainly would err on the sides of believing the whistleblower, especially given that my former employer’s Tesla spontaneously burst into flames while his two kids were in the back seat. Fortunately he was able to get them out on time, but I can’t even imagine.
djrobstep 5y ago
Tesla started selling a literal whistle in recent days, presumably as an SEO thing to bury this news with something more banal. Pretty slimy stuff.
- s5300 5y ago
  You can wipe up all the slime with your Apple Cloth^(tm)
  - me_me_me 5y ago
    please stop, this is getting depressing real quick :(
- analognoise 5y ago
  Oh my God I thought you were joking - "there's no way this is true" Direct link: https://shop.tesla.com/product/cyberwhistle?sku=1715672-00-A https://shop.tesla.com/product/cyberwhistle?sku=1715672-00-A What kind of nightmare dystopia is this timeline.
  - visarga 5y ago
    It's an abstract whistle.
  - cdirkx 5y ago
    I remember a similar thing as Boris Johnson was about to become prime minister [1] > As Boris Johnson described his hobby of making model buses out of wine crates and painting happy passengers at the windows, it looked like an off-the-cuff revelation. > Google searches for “Boris Johnson Bus” led to negative stories about Mr Johnson’s EU referendum stunt in which he travelled on a coach emblazoned with the claim that Britain sent £350 million a week to the EU. This claim led to a failed attempt to prosecute Mr Johnson. > After the radio interview these reports were pushed out of the search results. Of course it could just be that Boris really likes to make boxes, just like Tesla really likes to make whistles. [1]https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/it-s-not-fare-doubters-say-boris-johnson-is-burying-bus-news-shtwxq7x9 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/it-s-not-fare-doubters-sa... Also discussed on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21122806 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21122806
dncornholio 5y ago
I probably will get downvoted to hell and back again but I really have a hard time with Musk not caring about public safety at all, sacrificing humans to train his AI is still something that just completely baffles me. There is also a Very Long List of broken promises.
- s5300 5y ago
  I have a lot of issues with Musk but you’re making this claim about somebody who’s led one company to have the highest safety ratings, ever, across multiple models of cars + factory safety levels 2x+ those of the competition, as well as another company that’s safely sent multiple sets of astronauts to & from space @ something like 1/10th the old cost & in a much more comfortable setting.
  - simion314 5y ago
    >to have the highest safety ratings, only in Tesla PR reports(super easy to lie with statistics). Tesla is an expensive and safe car, people are having issue with the "autopilot" that is beta tested by unpaid volunteers on streets without the public pedestrians having to opt-in the beta.
    - s5300 5y ago
      Uhhh…… What? Pretty sure the ratings were from the NHTSA Are you saying Elon controls the NHTSA?
      - simion314 5y ago
        Tesla(with the autopilot off but drive assist on) is a safe car, I don't deny that , it is expensive ,big and with a low center of mass. The stats most fanboys and Tesla tweet about though are not about the ratings and about the incidents per mile and those are compared with everything including teens driving old cars (where few teens drive a Tesla). Tell Elon Musk to publish all the incidents data and we can then trust his tweets. But my main point, if you wish to also give your opinion in, is should pedestrians say maybe vote if random people can beta test Tesla's audopilot (including the beta updates) on the roads where they and their children walk? I think most people would consider that a paid test driver with some extra setup like attention control and camera surveillance should be allowed to run beta tests but not any random dude(especially some idiot fan that is also streaming at the same time while stress tests the newest update)

Whistleblowers becoming active after they have been fired are often ascribed retaliatory motives, but there's an interesting tidbit towards the middle: > Walmart in a 2019 lawsuit against Tesla said the latter's roof solar system led to seven store fires.

judge2020 5y ago
Was settled https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/walmart-settlement-with-tesla-on-solar-panel-fire https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/walmart-settlem...
- simion314 5y ago
  As usual with secret terms.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
simion314 5y ago
From my reading >Henkes, in the SEC complaint, said he told Tesla management that Tesla needs to shut down the fire-prone solar systems, report to safety regulators and notify consumers. it appears this person did not stayed quiet and only start speaking after getting fired, he did the right thing and was fired because of that(allegedly).
tyingq 5y ago
>Whistleblowers becoming active after they have been fired are often ascribed retaliatory motives They are also often fired for complaining internally about the thing they whistleblow about after being fired...
- ckastner 5y ago
  Indeed. Just to be clear, the internal complaint preceding the firing is apparently documented, and I did not mean to imply any particular motive. On the contrary: I found the that an otherwise unconnected third party, Walmart no less, would sue over this very supportive of the claim.
Alex3917 5y ago
I have these in my roof. I certainly would err on the sides of believing the whistleblower, especially given that my former employer’s Tesla spontaneously burst into flames while his two kids were in the back seat. Fortunately he was able to get them out on time, but I can’t even imagine.

djrobstep 5y ago

Tesla started selling a literal whistle in recent days, presumably as an SEO thing to bury this news with something more banal. Pretty slimy stuff.

s5300 5y ago
You can wipe up all the slime with your Apple Cloth^(tm)
- me_me_me 5y ago
  please stop, this is getting depressing real quick :(
analognoise 5y ago
Oh my God I thought you were joking - "there's no way this is true" Direct link: https://shop.tesla.com/product/cyberwhistle?sku=1715672-00-A https://shop.tesla.com/product/cyberwhistle?sku=1715672-00-A What kind of nightmare dystopia is this timeline.
- visarga 5y ago
  It's an abstract whistle.
- cdirkx 5y ago
  I remember a similar thing as Boris Johnson was about to become prime minister [1] > As Boris Johnson described his hobby of making model buses out of wine crates and painting happy passengers at the windows, it looked like an off-the-cuff revelation. > Google searches for “Boris Johnson Bus” led to negative stories about Mr Johnson’s EU referendum stunt in which he travelled on a coach emblazoned with the claim that Britain sent £350 million a week to the EU. This claim led to a failed attempt to prosecute Mr Johnson. > After the radio interview these reports were pushed out of the search results. Of course it could just be that Boris really likes to make boxes, just like Tesla really likes to make whistles. [1]https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/it-s-not-fare-doubters-say-boris-johnson-is-burying-bus-news-shtwxq7x9 https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/it-s-not-fare-doubters-sa... Also discussed on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21122806 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21122806

dncornholio 5y ago

I probably will get downvoted to hell and back again but I really have a hard time with Musk not caring about public safety at all, sacrificing humans to train his AI is still something that just completely baffles me. There is also a Very Long List of broken promises.

s5300 5y ago
I have a lot of issues with Musk but you’re making this claim about somebody who’s led one company to have the highest safety ratings, ever, across multiple models of cars + factory safety levels 2x+ those of the competition, as well as another company that’s safely sent multiple sets of astronauts to & from space @ something like 1/10th the old cost & in a much more comfortable setting.
- simion314 5y ago
  >to have the highest safety ratings, only in Tesla PR reports(super easy to lie with statistics). Tesla is an expensive and safe car, people are having issue with the "autopilot" that is beta tested by unpaid volunteers on streets without the public pedestrians having to opt-in the beta.
  - s5300 5y ago
    Uhhh…… What? Pretty sure the ratings were from the NHTSA Are you saying Elon controls the NHTSA?
    - simion314 5y ago
      Tesla(with the autopilot off but drive assist on) is a safe car, I don't deny that , it is expensive ,big and with a low center of mass. The stats most fanboys and Tesla tweet about though are not about the ratings and about the incidents per mile and those are compared with everything including teens driving old cars (where few teens drive a Tesla). Tell Elon Musk to publish all the incidents data and we can then trust his tweets. But my main point, if you wish to also give your opinion in, is should pedestrians say maybe vote if random people can beta test Tesla's audopilot (including the beta updates) on the roads where they and their children walk? I think most people would consider that a paid test driver with some extra setup like attention control and camera surveillance should be allowed to run beta tests but not any random dude(especially some idiot fan that is also streaming at the same time while stress tests the newest update)