Last week, reports came out about a German engineer who is suing Tesla, after finding broken jacking points in his brand new Model 3.
Now, another case has been made public about a Spanish mechanic who has won his lawsuit over the EV automaker for selling him a defective Tesla Model 3.
Ángel Gaitán has made legal history in Spain by winning the lawsuit over the EV giant, with the American company now forced to fork out nearly the entire value of his Model 3 as compensation.
Gaitán is a mechanic from Madrid and a self-described Tesla fan. He has owned Tesla vehicles since 2013 and was excited to upgrade to the new Model 3 in 2020. But when he received the vehicle, he was disappointed to see that the quality was not up to standard.
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He said in an interview with El Periodico de Espana that he was willing to accept some of the production quality issues when the company was starting out and finding its feet, but now, as an established automaker, he says it's just not good enough.
Gaitán found issues with the interior panels, the bonnet which was mismatched, and the windshield wipers were worn. But the most severe fault he found was a welding point that had come apart.
“The car came with poorly welded bodywork. They told me it was a silly problem and to take it away. I had the option to return it via the internet in a fortnight, but he was in his workshop longer and I missed the deadline. They gave me the option to weld it and I told them I wasn’t going to allow that in a new car.” he described El Periodico de Espana. “By not offering more solutions, I decided to denounce.”
It was then that Gaitán decided to sue the company, making the matter public through his popular YouTube and Instagram channels.
“I told them: since you don’t give me a solution, I will publish it. And they laughed at me,” he said. “They are above good and evil. Elon Musk is the richest man in the world and Spain is a country he doesn’t care about.”
Tesla hasn't commented publically on the matter, but the company said in court that the Model 3 is not a high-end vehicle and therefore argued that Gaitán’s complaints were not valid. The judge in the case did not, though, find this persuasive.
“Although the expert insists that the defects appreciated do not compromise the structural integrity or safety of the vehicle, it is proven that the vehicle does not meet the quality standards expected of a prestigious brand such as Tesla,” the court wrote in its decision.
The judge decided that Tesla owed Gaitán €62,330 ($104,374.70 NZD), which is most of the value of the vehicle. Tesla now has the chance to appeal the decision, meaning that Gaitán may not have seen the last of the courthouse.
Because the case has been made so public, Gaitán says he receives lots of messages from other Tesla owners expressing similar concerns.
“Every week customers come from all over Spain with welding problems, multiple finishing defects, batteries that break,” he says. “I report the problem and guide you on how to start the complaint. Some failures are serious and very expensive to repair.”