Toronto, Ontario – In this weekly electric and autonomous vehicle report, a Tesla owner in Scotland received a battery repair cost of $29,000 due to rain damages; and GM’s self-driving car subsidiary, Cruise faces legal repercussions.
Floating the bill
Johnny Bacigalupo and his partner Rob Hussey recently received a repair cost of $29,000 after their Tesla Model Y’s battery was damaged by heavy rain.
The couple, from Edinburgh, Scotland, recently drove their Model Y through some heavy rains to a restaurant, only to find that their vehicle wouldn’t start when it was time to leave.
After a five hour wait for roadside assistance and “frustrating” communications with Tesla, the couple said they were told the battery in their vehicle had been damaged by the wet weather.
“I honestly can’t believe that this has happened. When I first got the call, I thought we would get a bill for £500 or £1,000,” Bacigalupo said in an interview with Scottish outlet Edinburgh Live. “When they said over 17 grand — it’s absolutely obscene. My heart missed a beat, honestly.”
Bacigalupo says Tesla told them the battery was “effectively submerged in water,” and that the damages would not be covered under its eight-year warranty.
A complaint has been filed with Tesla by the couple, and the manufacturer has confirmed it will conduct an investigation.
Still, conditions remain soggy for Bacigalupo and his partner as they wait for repairs to be resolved.
Cruising into court
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened an investigation into GM subsidiary Cruise’s autonomous vehicle system following several incidents involving pedestrians in San Francisco.
On October 2, a woman became stuck underneath a Cruise robotaxi after being hit by a human-driver in another vehicle.
The NHTSA opened the preliminary probe after receiving reports of incidents of Cruise vehicles that “may not have exercised appropriate caution around pedestrians in the roadway,” according to a filing on the agency’s website.
“Cruise’s safety record of over 5 million miles continues to outperform comparable human drivers at a time when pedestrian injuries and deaths are at an all-time high,” Cruise spokesperson Hannah Lindlow said in an emailed statement. “Cruise communicates regularly with NHTSA and has consistently cooperated with each of NHTSA’s requests for information –– whether associated with an investigation or not –– and we plan to continue doing so.”
The NHTSA noted that the total number of “relevant pedestrian” incidents is unknown at this time.
