FAILURE TO DETECT TESLA’S TECHNICAL DEFECTS

[Anchor Lead]

Tesla’s electric cars enjoy enormous popularity in Korea. A fatal accident involving Tesla’s Model X car occurred in a basement parking lot in Seoul eight months ago. The vehicle’s door did not open after the car crashed. Despite the evidence pointing to technical defects in the vehicle, authorities have failed to investigate the matter properly.

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Rescue workers move busily around a Tesla Model X car. Although the driver managed to escape from the vehicle after the crash, the passenger, who owned the car, died. The rescue workers had a hard time opening the doors of the car. This has led some to presume that the hidden door system unique to Tesla vehicles does not work when the power supply is cut off.

[Soundbite] Park Sun-jang(Citizens United for Consumer Sovereignty) : "Domestic cars with a similar door opening system must be made in a way that allows the car doors to be opened from both the inside and outside to ensure the safety of drivers and passengers."

Shortly after the accident, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport decided to launch a probe into the car’s technical defects. It discussed with the U.S. ways to verify danger posed by the door opening system. However, Washington refused to cooperate, pointing out that under the bilateral FTA, cars with annual sales of less than 50,000 in Korea, are only required to meet safety requirements of the country where the vehicles were produced. It’s been eight months since the accident occurred, but the ministry officials cannot even access the car in question. The case has been investigated by police, but the ministry has yet to start investigating technical defects to find evidence of what's to be blamed for the car owner’s death.

[Soundbite] Lee Ho-keun(Prof., Daeduk University) : "The ministry has far more experts who can find out how the accident occurred. A joint investigation with the police should be carried out."

More and more EVs are supplied every year, but investigations into accidents and technical defects have produced no results so far.