A recent report by BBC alleges that British luxury brand and a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Motors, may have alleged arranged for sacking of the mechanical engineer who raised concerns on Reddit about the safety of the electric cars designed. Express Drives contacted Jaguar Land Rover and a spokesperson for JLR commented, “We do not comment on ongoing legal proceedings.”
According to the BBC report, “Confidential emails between executives at Tata Group reveal they retaliated against mechanical engineer Hazar Denli for posting concerns on Reddit that lives were being put at risk. He was then blacklisted.” BBC has added that both JLR and Tata Group declined to comment on their report.
However, BBC stated that the mechanical engineer- Hazar Denli, “raised concerns internally while working at a different division of Tata Group, its global engineering consultancy Tata Technologies.” According to BBC, Denli identified improperly designed components in the car’s chassis, including its suspension system in the prototypes designed by Tata Technologies for Vietnamese car maker Vinfast.
US-auto body NHTSA probing EVs by VinFast
Interestingly, Reuters reports indicate that US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has initiated probe in some electric vehicles manufactured by Vietnam’s VinFast. The Reuters report dated September 12 stated that the probe was with regards to Lane Keep Assist System was not functioning properly.
NHTSA said in a statement said, these vehicle system “has difficulty detecting lanes on the roadway, provide improper steering inputs and is difficult to override by the driver.” The investigation involved nearly 3,118 electric vehicle by VinFast after allegations in 14 reports by drivers of VinFast 2023 and 2024 models.
According to the Reuters report, preliminary evaluation will seek to investigate any “safety related defect” in the subject vehicles as stated by NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation. VinFast has been sellig these vehicles in the United Tstaes since 2023 and issued a statement assuring cooperation, “VinFast will cooperate fully with NHTSA throughout this process … We take all safety concerns seriously and will continue to monitor the situation closely.”
