Tesla Responds to Safety Recall Petition Over This Alleged Defect

Electric vehicle maker Tesla responded to a petition to a U.S. safety regulator to investigate and recall roughly 500,000 of the company’s electric cars.

The petition was over the alleged defect of unintended acceleration rates that far exceed other cars on the road.

Last week the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) had said it would review the petition and released a redacted version that said “Tesla vehicles experience unintended acceleration at rates far exceeding other cars on the roads.”

The petition calls for the recall of Tesla’s Model S, Model X and Model 3, which were produced beginning in 2013. It cited media reports of crashes attributed to unintended acceleration and complaints filed with NHTSA.

According to Tesla, the petition is “completely false” and was brought forward by a short-seller.

According to CNBC, the petition was submitted in September by Brian Sparks, who is currently shorting the stock.

“Over the past several years, we discussed with NHTSA the majority of the complaints alleged in the petition. In every case we reviewed with them, the data proved the vehicle functioned properly,” Tesla said in a blog post.

A spokesman for NHTSA said the agency “will carefully review the petition and relevant data.”

Disclaimer: We have no position in Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) and have not been compensated for this article.