Cars and Drivers

Tesla Rebounds Despite Federal Safety Probe

Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) shares ended Tuesday with a 3.7% bounce after CEO Elon Musk announced three steps the company would take to address issues related to three fires in Model S luxury electric vehicles — or rather what he characterized as the overreaction by the media to the fires.

One of those three actions was the call for an investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to see if there is a systemic fault with the Model S or its batteries. The NHTSA has obliged by opening an official preliminary investigation in the cause of the fires, though the agency maintains that it initiated its action independently, rather than at the request of Musk or Tesla.

The other actions announced by Musk in a blog post at the company’s website are an update to the air suspension of the Model S that will result in greater ground clearance at highway speeds, as well as an amendment to the warranty policy to cover damage due to a fire, even if due to driver error. The fires in the three Tesla cars were believed to be the result of running over road debris.

Musk said in that blog post:

Since the Model S went into production mid last year, there have been over 400 deaths and 1,200 serious injuries in the United States alone due to gasoline car fires, compared to zero deaths and zero injuries due to Tesla fires anywhere in the world.

As others have pointed out, there have been no reported fires in the rival Nissan Leaf, which has sold in greater numbers and has been on the market longer.

The stock has taken a beating since reaching a record high of $193.37 at the end of September. But investors seem to be pleased with recent developments, as the share price was up another 4% in early premarket trading Wednesday to $126.51.

Cash Back Credit Cards Have Never Been This Good

Credit card companies are at war, handing out free rewards and benefits to win the best customers. A good cash back card can be worth thousands of dollars a year in free money, not to mention other perks like travel, insurance, and access to fancy lounges. See our top picks for the best credit cards today. You won’t want to miss some of these offers.

 

Flywheel Publishing has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Flywheel Publishing and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.

AI Portfolio

Discover Our Top AI Stocks

Our expert who first called NVIDIA in 2009 is predicting 2025 will see a historic AI breakthrough.

You can follow him investing $500,000 of his own money on our top AI stocks for free.