The owner of a brand new Tesla that cost him $90,000 has expressed his outrage on social media after learning that his expensive car came with a defective airbag that fell off into his hands just moments after he bought the vehicle.
According to a report in The Daily Mail, schoolteacher Ricco Kimbrough documented his experience of buying his Tesla Model S in a series of videos posted to TikTok. But in the process, he discovered the faulty airbag that was disconnected, putting the driver in extreme danger in the event of a crash.
Airbag Not Attached
At first, the videos show Kimbrough alongside his two parakeets checking out all the vehicle’s features showing off the car’s popular center console. But in the fifth video, he notices that the airbag was not properly attached properly to the steering wheel. He tells his TikTok followers: “My airbag literally just came out.” He tells his followers this is not acceptable to him and calls it “some cheap baloney.”
In some of the videos, Kimbrough said the airbag wasn’t even connected to the steering wheel and was literally hanging out. Eventually, he filmed himself going back to the dealership to discuss the issue and said the dealership said they would fix the problem. He said how this is a reminder for people to take a good look at the vehicle they buy to make sure it doesn’t have such defects.
This is apparently not the first time Tesla has faced scrutiny for shoddy manufacturing. Back in 2017, a Tesla owner posted a YouTube video detailing every issue in his new Model S. This included a driver-side mirror that could only partially unfold, a door trim that did not line up properly, and a steering wheel that was crooked when he was driving straight. He also reported a rattle from the rear passenger-side door, a defective windshield with horizontal streaks, and a strange yellow line through the display.
The cars have also faced increased scrutiny over its Autopilot driver-assist feature with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) releasing a list of 30 investigations into Tesla crashes including 10 fatal crashes.
Responsibilities of Automakers
We count on automakers to manufacture vehicles that are safe and can protect us in the event of a crash. In this particular case, an airbag wasn’t attached properly during the manufacturing process, which means such an airbag cannot protect vehicle occupants if a crash occurs. As Kimbrough says in his videos, this is unacceptable for any vehicle, let alone a luxury vehicle with a price tag of $90,000 that claims to be safe. If you are injured due to a vehicle fault, contact an auto defect attorney to hold the responsible parties accountable.
