Tesla whistleblower in legal battle over braking-safety concerns

Ms Balan shared with BBC News various communications between herself and Tesla from her time working there.

“Everything went south when I realised that they were hiding some critical safety issues,” she claims.

Ms Balan was worried the carpets were curling underneath some pedals – a simple but potentially lethal design flaw – and said customers had complained.

“If you cannot push the brake, someone else, outside of a Tesla, can get injured,” she says.

“They just had to say, ‘We realise the carpets are bad – just take them out of the cars.’”

But managers rebuffed her concerns and became hostile, Ms Balan claims.

So she emailed Mr Musk, who had directly encouraged employees to come to him personally with any worries that could affect Tesla’s reputation.