Putting customers (and reputation!) first in the midst of industry-wide concerns
Tesla Motors already has a reputation that far outshines its competitors. Its emphasis on service and customer care has supplemented the straight-out engineering power of the company as its been demonstrated time and time again. In an era where major auto industry players are facing massive forced recalls and scrutiny from lawmakers, Tesla delivered the following bit of preventative crisis management to customers via email this past Friday:
We are sending you this email to inform you of a proactive action Tesla is taking to ensure your safety. Tesla recently found a Model S in Europe with a front seat belt that was not properly connected to the outboard lap pretensioner. This vehicle was not involved in a crash and there were no injuries. However, in the event of a crash, a seatbelt in this condition would not provide full protection. First and foremost, we care about your safety.
This is the only customer vehicle we know of with this condition. Even though we have since inspected the seat belts in over 3,000 vehicles spanning the entire range of Model S production and found no issues, we have decided to conduct a voluntary recall as a proactive and precautionary measure to inspect all front Model S seat belts and make absolutely sure that they are properly connected. (We have no concerns regarding seat belts in the rear of Model S.)
Our records indicate you own a Model S affected by this voluntary recall. We will be sending you an official recall notice by mail, but you don’t need to wait for this notice to schedule your free inspection.
You have two options for your inspection:
1) Use our online scheduling tool to book an appointment
BOOK ONLINE
2) Visit a Tesla Service Center
Locate your nearest service center using the link below and call directly to book an appointment. You can email the service center team if this is more convenient for you, email addresses are listed on the Find Us page.
FIND US
Alternatively, you can call 844-248-3752. By calling this number, you will automatically be routed to a local service center based upon the area code you are calling from. If you have a blocked number, or would like to reach a specific location, please dial the service center directly.
If you are concerned about the status of your seatbelt prior to your scheduled inspection, you may be able to detect this condition by pulling very firmly on the lap portion of your seat belt with a force of at least 80 pounds. This procedure may detect an improperly attached seat belt but performing this procedure does not replace the need for an inspection by a Tesla technician.
Thank you for your ongoing support. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
While it is true that Tesla stock dropped several points in the wake of the announcement, this is a long-term strategy at work and we would be shocked if it didn’t recover its value and continue to perform quite well. The mistake others in the industry have made is to prioritize short-term gains above long-lasting reputation and trust. It may keep the books looking nice in the now, but as we’ve already seen you always wind up paying down the road.
Erik Bernstein
www.bernsteincrisismanagement.com