US electric auto supplier, Tesla Motors Inc. sued Hoerbiger Automotive Comfort Systems in federal court. Tesla reiterated that Hoerbiger misrepresented its capabilities to actually create an actuator for a special door for the Model X.
Model X has been one of the most anticipated cars of Tesla in the market; the car has a one of a kind trick falcon-wing folding rear door. It was supposed to be released last 2014 but after several setbacks, it finally made it out to the market late 2015 as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The recent law suit shed some details behind the delay in tangled with the falcon-wing door. It turns out that the original design was a hydraulic type door but because of the incompetence of its partner they opted to go with electromechanical actuators instead. The case was filed in court to get a declaratory judgment related to the terms and condition of the agreement Tesla had entered with its hydraulic supplier Hoerbiger. The hydraulic maker requested Tesla additional payments beyond their agreed amount.
In a statement by Tesla, they said that they are doing this action to obtain a judicial declaration that they are not in breach of any obligation in the contract with Hoerbiger. Tesla also claims that the hydraulic company was negligent, made misinterpretation, and made promissory estoppel.
According to Clean Technica, The Company also request damages to be assessed and recouped as part and parcel of the additional actions specifically the incremental expenses as a result of Hoerbigers inactions. Some of the said damages are the cost of re-tooling the entire vehicle, the cost that was put to waste just to embody Hoerbiger parts, the payment that Tesla needs to incur for the new supplier, and cost related to the disruption of business due to the delay
But on a separate interview, Hoerbiger claimed that it followed Tesla's guidelines. They said that they are well equipped to supply.Tesla's needs and the actuator for the falcon wing door has nothing to do with some of the problems that Tesla wrote on the complain like engine overheating and symmetry problems.
Cases between the car manufacturer and suppliers are not rare in the auto industry. Even after suits are filed, sometimes both parties need to work together just to finish the contract or the actual car itself. In this case, Tesla was able to shed some reasons on why the Model X launched was delayed several times considering the stiff deadline they set themselves.
