特斯拉重新審視修車後的保密要求
Tesla Motors said it was reconsidering its use of gag clauses designed to stop owners talking about faults it has fixed in their cars, after a US safety regulator called the practice “troublesome”.
特斯拉汽車(Tesla Motors)表示，正在重新審視其使用保密條款讓車主不再談論已修復汽車缺陷的做法，此前美國安全監管機構認爲這種做法“令人不安”。
The concession came as the electric carmaker fought to stem concerns about possibly faulty suspensions in its cars, after reports of breakages on several vehicles. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration said on Thursday that it was examining “the potential suspension issue” and that it was seeking more information from owners and the company.
在特斯拉做出上述讓步之際，這家電動汽車製造商努力消除外界對其汽車懸掛系統存在隱患的擔憂，此前有報道稱，該公司多輛汽車上的部件發生斷裂。美國國家公路交通安全管理局(NHTSA)週四表示，正在調查“潛在的懸掛系統問題”，並正向車主和特斯拉索取更多信息。
Requiring customers to sign non-disclosure agreements when the company pays for repairs could prevent them reporting safety problems to regulators and put other customers at risk, said Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law. It “is against public policy and might even be illegal,” he said. “They’re saying it wasn’t the intent — but it’s the effect that matters.”
里士滿大學法學院(University of Richmond School of Law)的教授卡爾•託拜厄斯(Carl Tobias)表示，特斯拉在承擔維修費用時要求客戶簽署保密協議，這可能阻止客戶向監管機構報告安全問題，從而讓其他客戶承受風險。這“與公共政策相悖，甚至可能是非法的，”他說，“他們說這並非本意，但重要的是效果”。
In a characteristically robust defence of its cars and its dealings with regulators, Tesla painted a different picture to the one from the NHTSA. In a blog post late on Thursday evening, it said that it had been told by the agency that it had already “co-operated fully and that no further information is needed”.
特斯拉以其慣用方式堅決捍衛其製造的汽車及其與監管機構的關係，並給出了與美國國家公路交通安全管理局不同的說法。特斯拉週四晚間在一篇博文中表示，美國國家公路交通安全管理局告知該公司，它已經“充分合作，不需要提供進一步的信息”。
Also, despite the NHTSA examination, the company stated: “There is no safety defect with the suspensions in either the Model S or Model X.” Ownership of all of its own service centres meant that it had been able to examine all parts that had been replaced on its cars, leading to “high confidence in our suspensions”, it said.
此外，儘管美國國家公路交通安全管理局已經展開調查，但特斯拉表示：“無論是Model S還是Model X車型，懸掛系統都不存在安全缺陷。”該公司表示，擁有旗下所有服務中心意味着，它能夠檢查所有更換的部件，因此對“我們的懸掛部件很有信心”。
On Friday, the NHTSA said Tesla had “clarified the language of its Goodwill Agreements in a satisfactory way, resolving the issue”. It also said it had “not identified any safety issue with Tesla’s suspensions”, but was still conducting its review.
美國國家公路交通安全管理局週五表示，特斯拉“以令人滿意的方式澄清了其‘善意協議’的措辭，從而解決了這個問題”。它還表示，“沒有發現特斯拉的懸掛部件有任何安全問題”，但仍在進行評估。
