Whistleblower Blacklisted By Tata Over VinFast Safety Concerns – CleanTechnica

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Auto manufacturers, especially those new to the industry, often contract with other manufacturers and suppliers to help them design their products. Tata Technologies, which is part of Tata Industries, was hired by VinFast to design the chassis and suspension components for some of its cars. Hazar Denli, a chassis design engineer working for Tata Technologies, told the BBC recently that he identified improperly designed components in the suspension systems designed by Tata Technologies that could fail, putting people at risk of serious injury.

Under stress, such as hitting a pothole at speed, the front wheels could become misaligned, causing the car to veer to the left or right without prompting, and the driver could lose control, Denli said. “We saw, for example, the front strut-to-knuckle connection was loosening, which could be extremely dangerous. It could cause a loosening of the entire structure that could cause wheels to come off. In a crash scenario, it could be completely unsafe. It could cause the vehicle to lose control.” In fact, during testing, there were incidents of a front wheel actually snapping off, he said.

Denli was appointed to lead the engineering team working on VinFast front suspension and chassis design in September 2022 when the design and testing program was already well underway and there was intense time pressure to get the project completed. Soon after he started work there, he became concerned that VinFast was cutting corners and keeping costs down by employing a small team of inexperienced engineers while de-emphasizing safety. His concerns got more serious when he heard three of his predecessors had quit after short spells on the project.

Wheels That Fall Off

In February and March of 2023, during vigorous testing of VinFast cars, two components snapped off and another two failed. As the testing continued, further failures occurred. Denli reported the “extremely concerning” incidents to colleagues at Tata Technologies Limited, the consultancy’s UK division. “In the drive units, some of the brackets were completely failing and falling out on to the road.” He made his concerns known to senior executives at TTL and VinFast and recommended they redesign the components, but that would have required VinFast to postpone production of the car. VinFast was about to move forward with an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange and decided to  start production anyway. Denli asked to be assigned to another project but senior managers refused. Not wanting to be associated with the VinFast project any longer, he resigned

With his skills in high demand, he soon found another position in chassis design, this time at Jaguar Land Rover, which is also owned by Tata Group. While working in his new position, reports of problems with VinFast VF6 and VF7 cars continued to appear online. Then, on April 24, 2024, a family of four was killed while riding in a VinFast automobile in Pleasanton, California. Police reported the vehicle lost control, veered off the road, hit a pole, and caught fire. The reports of the crash prompted Denli to post on Reddit that he had worked on the design of the car and it was a vehicle he believed put lives at risk. “I would get into every other vehicle I have designed from other brands … and every vehicle has flaws. … But Vinfast, I wouldn’t get into one … never will and I won’t let my loved ones get into one either,” he wrote. Two months later, on 18 July, 2024, his contract at JLR was terminated.

Things Went Downhill From There

According to the BBC, it has reviewed confidential emails between executives at Tata Group showing they retaliated against Denli for posting his concerns on Reddit. Then they went even further and had him blacklisted. Internal documents obtained through a Data Subject Access Request reveal Tata Technologies HR director Patrick Flood discussed his company’s wish to have Denli’s new employment terminated with JLR’s HR director and board member Dave Williams. Flood told Williams that Tata Group client VinFast had conducted its own investigation and identified Denli as the author of the Reddit posts: “The concern is if he has done this now, he could do the same at JLR.” The same day he was sacked, Denli was blacklisted on industry recruitment platform Magnit, which told JLR he had been “red-flagged,” which meant any applications from him for other work using its platform would be automatically declined.

Denli is now taking JLR to an employment tribunal. “I was distressed as to what was happening around the world where innocent people were paying the price — a very high price,” he told the BBC. “I thought that if some people would start to speak up about it, they would actually be forced to make some changes.” In UK employment law, workers have some protection from employer retaliation if they disclose information they reasonably believe shows the health and safety of any individual is likely to be endangered. Under the Public Interest Disclosure at Work Act 1998, any clause in a contract that seeks to bind them to silence is void.

Whistleblower Protection In The US

The US Department of Labor says, “An employer cannot retaliate against you for exercising your rights under the Department of Labor’s whistleblower protection laws. Retaliation includes such actions as firing or laying off, demoting, denying overtime or promotion, or reducing pay or hours. Retaliation occurs when an employer (through a manager, supervisor, or administrator) fires an employee or takes any other type of adverse action against an employee for engaging in protected activity. An adverse action is an action which would dissuade a reasonable employee from raising a concern about a possible violation or engaging in other related protected activity. Retaliation can have a negative impact on overall employee morale.”

Good luck with that. While you are sitting at home trying to figure out how to pay your rent, your employer will be hiring an army of Armani-clad attorneys to string your case out until your entire financial world collapses. The BBC report did not delve into how Denli is supporting himself now, but once the whispering campaign begins, it’s hard to find work in your chosen field. The really scary part, at least for Americans, is that President Musk is hellbent on eliminating NHTSA, the Labor Department, and virtually every other federal agency as part of the mandate he says he received in the last election to slash the size of government.

What this story is really about is how money — and the pursuit of it — distorts any notion of basic fairness. If a few families die because the wheels fall off their cars unexpectedly, well that is unfortunate, but no reason to slow the acquisition of ever increasing piles of money. No allegations can be allowed to interrupt an IPO or decrease corporate profits. Hazar Denli is just another person — one of millions — who has been chewed up and spit out by the insatiable maw of weaponized capitalism that makes profits the sole raison d’etre for corporations.