Growing numbers of Tesla owners are complaining of strange and debilitating symptoms that seem to go away after they’ve sold their EVs to someone else. The symptoms range from debilitating pain to nosebleeds and even hair loss. Tesla is not the only electric car that seems to be making its owners sick, but it is the one with the most complaints thus far. The Biden administration, which wants to force everyone to drive an EV by 2030, says there’s nothing to be alarmed about. They insist that EVs are safe and effective and that they have no known side effects, and anyone who says otherwise is a Nazi white supremacist spreading disinformation.
Part of the problem for many people is Tesla’s weird braking and acceleration system. One of the quirky things Elon Musk wanted to do with the Tesla was create a vehicle that has a one-pedal throttle. Instead of an accelerator and a brake pedal like normal cars have, everything is operated through just one pedal. It accelerates when you press down or decelerates when you lift your foot off it. It’s not a very good design, so it makes for a very “jerky” experience when driving, which gives some people motion sickness, dizziness, and nausea.
No one is sure why switching from two pedals to a one-pedal design was a problem that Elon Musk felt like he had to solve, but there you go.
A social media health and wellness influencer who goes by the online name @livingwellwithelle says she bought a Tesla to save money on gas prices. (She’s apparently not great at math, since a Chevy Trax costs about $50,000 less than a new Tesla, but anyway.) However, after driving the new Tesla for just two hours, she started having nosebleeds and her hair started falling out. She also reports feeling nausea and extreme fatigue, and debilitating pain in her shoulders, collarbone, and neck.
The symptoms kept getting worse over time, and the same thing was happening to her husband. After she’d get home from grocery shopping, she says she’d have to lie down for 20 minutes to rest before unloading the car. It was only after she borrowed her mother’s gas-powered car for a long road trip (because you can’t take a long road trip in an EV) that she put two and two together. They experienced no symptoms in the gas-powered car.
As soon as they sold the Tesla, the nosebleeds and pain stopped, and their hair grew back. @livingwellwithelle says she can’t prove that the Tesla was causing their issues, the health problems haven’t come back in the five months since they sold the vehicle. Apologists for the EV industry are claiming that it couldn’t possibly be the couple’s Tesla that was making their hair fall out.
However, hair tissue mineral analysis experts say it could have been the Tesla. They’ve done studies proving that the electric batteries in all EVs emit harmful heavy metals like cobalt, nickel, and manganese. All of these can cause sickness in humans when exposed to them.
There have also been dozens of complaints from Tesla owners who say they’ve developed asthma-like symptoms after buying their cars. The culprit for that symptom has been identified, however. Because of the wonky way that the air conditioning system in Teslas is designed, they’re prone to developing mold that never dries out. Some buyers have reported that their cars arrived brand new when they first ordered them and were already blasting out mold spores that made them sick.
The Biden administration says that just means the electric vehicles are working like they’re supposed to. If your EV makes you feel sick, you should get a second booster EV!
