Is Tesla As Bad As Boeing?
I was still in high school when I first watched “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” the iconic Twilight Zone episode (season one) starring William Shatner as a man who sees a gremlin sabotaging his airplane. The claustrophobic setting and the sheer terror of the situation make it a classic horror tale, maybe the scariest TV show ever seen— at least until this past Sunday when 60 Minutes featured another whistleblower, the company’s quality investigator Sam Mohawk. Mohawk, who’s worked for Boeing for 13 years told CBS reporter Kelly O’Grady that he had “warned Boeing about lapses of safety practices inside the Renton factory months before a panel blew off a 737-9 MAX Boeing airplane carrying 177 people thousands of feet above the ground. ‘I was not surprised,’ he told 60 Minutes. ‘I was almost expecting something to happen. I was actually happy that it wasn’t a catastrophic event that took down an airplane. That kind of put visibility on what was going on internally out to the public.’”
If you know anyone who works at an engineer at Tesla— or anyone who has a relative who does— and have heard the horror stories and why Tesla engineers won’t drive in Tesla cars, who know what was freaking Mohawk out.
Mohawk said management pushing for a quick turnaround is a theme in the Boeing factory.
“The idea is to keep those airplanes moving, keep that line moving at all costs,” he said.
“At all costs, even safety?” O’Grady asked.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Mohawk replied.
He said the mantra leads to the use of faulty parts.
“There’s a desperation for parts because we have problems with our part suppliers,” Mohawk explained. “So there’s, in order to get that plane built and out the door in time, I think, unfortunately, some of those parts were recycled back onto the airplanes, in order to keep building the airplane and not stop it in production.”
More concerning, he said thousands of parts are missing and not just bolts but rudders, which are used for steering planes. Specifically, Mohawk told 60 Minutes 42 non-conforming rudders, which will not last the 30-year lifespan of a Boeing jet, went missing.
“Those parts came into our system,” he said. “They’re huge parts and they just completely went missing. Somebody, not through our group, moved all those parts away.”
“Somebody?” Isn’t that the point? Who? Shouldn’t that person be— at the very least— in prison, for life. After all, “Mohawk worries without a thorough investigation, the faulty parts could lead to a catastrophic event. ‘It might not happen within the first year, but down the road, they’re not going to last the lifetime they’re expected to last,” he added. ‘It’s like Russian roulette, you don’t know if it’s going to go down or not.’” Boeing has 170,688 employees, although it's in the middle of downsizing a little— none of the criminals though.
“O’Grady noted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) received more than 200 complaints from whistleblowers over the last year. ‘Their safety concerns include mismanagement of parts, poor manufacturing and sloppy inspections at Boeing,’ she stated. In January, weeks after the door panel blew off, an anonymous Boeing whistleblower claimed problems may run deep in the Renton assembly line. ‘The reason the door blew off is stated in black and white in Boeing’s own records,’ the whistleblower wrote. ‘It is also very, very stupid and speaks volumes about the quality culture at certain portions of the business.’ Another whistleblower claimed Boeing is involved in a ‘criminal cover-up.’”
“Boeing has said there are no records documenting the removal of the Alaska Airline (plane’s) door,” former Boeing engineer Ed Pierson told the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. “I’m not going to sugarcoat this. This is a criminal cover-up. Records do, in fact, exist. I know this because I’ve personally passed them to the FBI.”
In May, a former Boeing employee who blew the whistle on alleged safety problems within the aircraft manufacturer’s plant in South Carolina was found dead.
John Barnett, 62, died from a reported “self-inflicted” wound on March 9, a coroner in South Carolina said earlier this year.”
Yeah… South Carolina, that’s a coroner’s report I’m going to trust as if Lindsey Graham himself filed it. As for Tesla… is it as bad as Boeing? You bet it is. Musk’s company’s vehicles have higher accident rates compared to other car manufacturers. Of the 30 car brands listed in a Lending Tree study, Tesla drivers were involved in more accidents than drivers of any other brand. There have been a constant drumbeat of reports from Tesla's factories exposing howt production pressures led to compromised safety protocols. Former employees have described situations where the emphasis on meeting production goals resulted in shortcuts and inadequate safety measures. Musk should be given a fair trial before he’s executed or even just deported.
Tesla relied on faulty equipment, such as hoists that had not been properly engineered or inspected, leading to accidents. Reports have shown that new employees were frequently pulled out of safety training early to meet production needs, which contributed to unsafe practices on the factory floor. Allegations also include discrepancies in injury reporting, where work-related injuries were sometimes categorized as “personal medical” cases to avoid being included in official records, potentially underreporting the true scope of workplace hazards. Systemic issues persist, fueled by the company’s relentless push for productivity and growth.
Thank you for writing this Howie. Your writing is a public service. I'll never buy a Tesla but I sure do worry about all the flying I do.
The logical progression of neoliberalism. Gummint cuts. Boeing gets to certify its own shit. Boeing saves money. People die. Not the NRA or health insurance numbers, but in batches of hundreds at a time.
This isn't a nazi vs. democrap thing. BOTH parties have participated in this for decades. And you all just keep voting for it.
Next up? FDA cuts. Food corporations will take shortcuts. People die. Lysteria and e-coli already kill a few per year. More will be inevitable.