The Olympia school fire is causing a nationally-known Tesla whistleblower to speak out about against defective electrical connectors.
Steven Henkes worked with Toyota for a number of years as a quality division manager before moving to a company called Solar City in 2016 where he took a position as a quality engineer. Shortly after that Tesla acquired Solar City.
After the acquisition, Henkes’ position changed. In his new position as a field quality manager Henkes became aware of problems with defective electrical connectors in December 2017. The connector problems could lead to solar panels catching on fire and increased fire risks in the company’s solar installations.
Henkes raised his safety concerns related to the connectors internally. He later learned that Solar City/Tesla had been well aware of the problems for years.
In 2019 Henkes still served as a solar field quality manager with Tesla. Henkes was not satisfied with Tesla’s responses to his concerns and ultimately filed formal complaints with the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission.
Henkes was fired from Tesla in August 2020.
Henkes remains concerned about solar panels installed between 2015 through late 2018, in which Olympia’s panels were installed. The school bought the panels in 2016. Between 2015 through late 2018 that was the time period during which the faulty connectors were used. No recall has been issued. As a result the clock continues to tick and no...
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