There’s a strange propaganda dump on Barron’s right now trying to pump Tesla investors.

Tesla Has the Most Self-Driving Accidents. There’s a Good Reason for That.

The reason is Tesla has the worst engineering coupled with deceptive marketing. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s look at the article.

First, note the author is Al Root.

Allen Root is a senior writer at Barron’s. He spent 17 years on Wall Street and joined Barron’s from broker R.W Baird, where he was the industrial strategist.

This is not a voice of technology, just an investor/broker. How many Tesla shares is this Wall Street Broker sitting on that are under water? It matters.

Second, here’s the fraudulent lede.

Tesla has the largest population of connected vehicles in the U.S. by far. Tesla has about 1.7 million connected vehicles on U.S. roads.

Total absolute bullshit.

Now here is a basic known fact, easily contradicting cheap Wall Street Broker disinformation.

With the majority of new GM vehicles coming pre-equipped with the ability to connect to the OnStar network, GM has access to the data of more than 20 million motorists in 47 countries across the globe. […] GM first started collecting data from its vehicles back in 1996, when OnStar was first introduced. OnStar relays vehicle telematics back to GM, allowing the automaker to collect real-time data on how and where it’s being driven.

That was 2020. And the next year they went even bigger.

Since the introduction of General Motors’ fleet telematics solution, OnStar Vehicle Insights, fleet managers have received nearly 3.5 million notifications and details of almost 16 million trips covering more than 246 million miles. Starting today, OnStar Vehicle Insights can now be used with most non-GM vehicles via a plug-in adapter. This means that fleet customers can utilize OnStar Vehicle Insights across their whole fleet, regardless of vehicle make or model year.

Huge. Massively larger telematics fleet than Tesla’s piddling 1.7 million.

Let me put it this way, over twenty years ago OnStar reported it had 2 million subscribers getting crash detection capabilities via GM telematics.

OnStar is the country’s most popular in-vehicle communications system, with more than 2-million subscribers. […] The system already alerts an OnStar operator when an air bag deploys, but the improvements will notify operators about accidents that did not trigger an air bag deployment and send more information about the crash.

Twenty years ago, at least 2 million sending crash data. See how bad this Barron’s report is already?

Little Volvo probably even has more telematics data than Tesla, while Mercedes and Stellantis certainly do with much higher levels of ADAS to boot.

I know for a fact, having spoken with the people responsible, that Porsche eliminated fatalities by using crash data and instantaneous reporting. They might not talk about it publicly, but it’s behind the scenes keeping Porsche off these crash lists

Or as automotive market analysts put it…

GM, BMW, Toyota, Ford, Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis are the leading adopters of embedded telematics, widely offering the technology as a standard feature across models and geographies.

Tesla doesn’t get a mention. Why? They are NOT a leader in telematics.

Sorry Wall Street Broker trying to manipulate investors, you’re burned. And what is this next nonsense from Barron’s?

GM said that vehicles with ADAS systems and with an active OnStar subscription can tell the company what happened, but that number is in the tens of thousands.

Who said what?

“That number” is what? The sentence reads like active subscription is being counted instead of connected telematics. Consumer Reports understands the difference — when customers have to pay to benefit from their safety data, it does not mean the data doesn’t still get transmitted to benefit the car makers.

The alleged GM statement that Barron’s gives us is very suspicious, especially as an anonymous quote. It’s without any real basis, and makes no sense given GM for decades has boasted about its massive telematics reach and power through OnStar services regardless of subscriptions. The data is not about user accesss, it’s about the DATA.

You’d think a Tesla stock broker would get this, given Tesla is so totally opaque and customers don’t get to see anything it knows while Tesla makes outrageous statements about data it has.

Ok, and let’s get really real. Insurance companies are in this mix big time. GM telematics about crashes is definitely NOT being pulled from only 10K cars. Come on.

“We’re not the only (carmaker) out there with connected vehicles, but we have more data than the rest of the industry combined,” said Andrew Rose, GM’s vice president of insurance innovation.

Oh look, an actual person at GM in 2020, working on the largest crash data telematics resource in the world.

Third, Barron’s makes other totally baseless claims about car safety.

Seat belts, anti-lock brakes, air bags, legislation, and early ADAS have all helped to cut those numbers.

Disinformation. Totally inappropriate to list ADAS with seatbelts. Hopefully it’s obvious why. Seatbelts are unquestionably simple and proven to inexpensively decrease fatalities. ADAS is complicated and unproven to do anything it hopes to someday achieve.

I mean Mercedes had ADAS attempts in the 1980s. GM had ADAS attempts in the 1960s. It’s not like seatbelts are any older than attempts to make cars driverless.

And again there is no Barron’s source, no citation, no proof that ADAS has in any way “helped to cut those numbers”. Early ADAS is basically the 1950s.

Here’s yet another sentence where you can really see the Wall Street Broker has zero clue about vehicle safety.

Still, ADAS is a little different than air bags, a less controversial innovation. And the most advanced driver assistance systems require some training.

A little different? A little?

Less controversial? WOW.

Airbags were one of the most controversial technology changes in history. Arch conservative Elizabeth Dole (from Kansas) famously used a “Bleeding Kansas” disinformation strategy straight out of 1852 to try and kill airbags by pushing “local rights”. And just like in 1857 Kansas, the strategy backfired as America went the opposite direction expected, moving towards federal protection of humanity. Airbags overcame massive political headwinds.

It’s a classic study now in controversial technology. Even seatbelts were controversial.

And to top this ahistoric nonsense from Barron’s, the writer also says ADAS can require “some training”?

That’s like saying gasoline cars require “some” gasoline.

Some.

Awful. This is really, truly, awful disinformation. And now you know who buys Tesla stock.

So, why did GM report just a few crashes to NHTSA while Tesla reported over 750 crashes?

It’s not because GM is hiding any crashes. The Tesla design is in fact crashing significantly more.

Why did Tesla crash far more than all the other car brands combined?

It’s not because other car brands are hiding any crashes. The Tesla design is in fact crashing significantly more.

Tesla has LESS data. Tesla has LESS cars. Tesla has LESS safety by design. They created an unsafe car. Of course it crashes more often, and its robotics are a joke.

Tesla engineering quality is so poor and regressive, like pre-1990s economy models with no safety checks, courts have ruled that owners should get a full refund.

The brakes fail. The control console fails. Reason for high crash numbers? Tesla ADAS, like the rest of the car, regularly fails.

We have an example the other day of a guy traveling at high speed when his Tesla totally freezes.

We have dozens of examples of sudden “veering” with Tesla fatalities from hitting trees, other cars, road barriers… Tesla, always Tesla.

Nissan outsold Tesla in Norway’s EV market, delivered far higher satisfaction, and far better safety. It’s like night and day when you look at their market numbers. Buying a Tesla in environmentally concerned Norway now is like buying a snowman in Saudi Arabia. Why would anyone do it?

There simply aren’t the same horrifying reports from any other manufacturers. Except maybe a 1990 Kia missing all its recalls, which is basically what Tesla engineering compares best with.

Fourth and finally, some people probably know NHTSA setup the reporting to prove what Tesla was repeatedly refusing to admit.

Now that Tesla is exposed by such mandated reporting, it’s really proof against their earlier lies. It’s not about waiting on future results, it’s about drawing a line that forces Tesla right now to stop their ongoing fraud.

Even if someone were to try and push whataboutism further to distract, it doesn’t change the fact that in 2016 Tesla promised they would trend towards zero crashes. Its CEO angrily and fraudulently shouted at journalists that Tesla was the safest car on the road.

Total bullshit then, and now provably bullshit every year since then. Their crashes have been rapidly increasing, as I have explained since way back in 2016 is what we should expect would happen.

Tesladeaths.com predates NHTSA analysis by years, and gives an accurate picture with verified reports.

Tesla continuously promises a future that will never come, to seduce investors and buyers to cast doubt on their own reality. It this looks like a classic advanced fee fraud scam and this Barron’s report unfortunately is spreading it hook, line, and sinker.

Without fraud there would be no Tesla.

Barron’s appears complicit in Tesla disinformation to manipulate stock prices.