Turns Out, Elon Musk Once Headbutted A Car To Prove It Wouldn't Really Hurt
Elon Musk reportedly headbutted a car to prove the assembly line needn&rsquot be stopped for safety. The incident supposedly occurred when Musk was touring the factory in Fremont California and asked why his assembly line had come to a halt. Supposedly a senior manager insisted it was a safety measure and a furious Musk told him to &ldquoGet out. Tesla however has denied that&rsqos how the incident went claiming things went down in a much milder ...Read More
With all the recent ridiculousness surrounding Elon Musk, like trying to impulsively privatize Tesla and doubling down on the ¡°pedo¡± comment, stories are now leaking out from old employees and the likes. And some of them are strange to say the least. The latest peek into Elon Musk¡¯s psyche comes from the Wall Street Journal, with an anecdote about the one time Musk headbutted a car to prove the assembly line needn¡¯t be stopped for safety.
The incident supposedly occurred when Musk was touring Tesla¡¯s factory in Fremont, California, and asked why his assembly line had come to a halt. According to the retelling, managers told him the automatic safety sensors stopped the line whenever people got in the way.
¡°Mr. Musk became angry, according to people familiar with what happened,¡± the story states. ¡°His high-profile gamble on mass-producing electric cars had lagged behind since production began, and here was one more frustration. The billionaire entrepreneur began head-butting the front end of a car on the assembly line.¡±
¡°I don¡¯t see how this could hurt me,¡± he reportedly said, knocking his noggin on a vehicle on the slow-speed line. ¡°I want the cars to just keep moving.¡± Supposedly a senior manager insisted it was a safety measure and a furious Musk told him to ¡°Get out!¡±
Tesla however has denied that¡¯s how the incident went, claiming things went down in a much milder fashion. They insisted to the Journal that Musk had, in a safety hat, tapped the car on the assembly line and not head-butted it and that the system was adjusted without compromising worker safety.
In addition, Tesla is quick to note that workers on the line were consulted before the equipment was changed. They claim safety specialists and engineers supported the change, and it was therefore compliant with workplace safety regulations.
It¡¯s just another in a long list of close encounters of a Musk kind. It¡¯s impossible to clarify which version of the story is true. However, it certainly is troubling that the former seems equally true when talking about a powerful billionaire with the safety of his workers in his hands.
