Elon Musk says Model 3 braking flaw can be fixed

Elon Musk has been forced to address US publication

Taking to Twitter, Musk responded to the independent tests by acknowledging a problem and claiming that it can be fixed with a "firmware update".

"We can improve braking distance beyond initial specs," said the US car maker CEO, adding: "Tesla won’t stop until Model 3 has better braking than any remotely comparable car."

Musk's reply was at odds with Tesla, which originally disputed the findings.

The issue arose when the Consumer Reports purchased the small battery-powered sedan for testing and the Model 3 failed to replicate its braking performance during the 60-0mph brake test.

Despite letting the brakes cool overnight, repeated tests failed to replicate an original test run in which it stopped in 40 metres.

In fact, testers found the Model 3 could only manage to stop in 46.3 metres – 6.4 metres longer than the class average and 2.1 metres further than Ford's F-150 pick-up truck.

Consumer Reports also criticised the Model 3's touch-screen infotainment system's ergonomics, its harsh ride, uncomfortable rear seat and excessive wind noise.

A second car borrowed from an owner, suffered similar inconsistent braking issues.

Forced to go on the defensive, Musk issued another tweet that claimed the Consumer Reports vehicle was an early production car and that later Model 3s off the line had better ride comfort, lower wind noise and other improvements.

According to Musk, the inconsistent braking issue was caused by ABS calibration algorithm.

As previously reported on Reuters, many of the Model 3 issues are thought to be related to skipping the prototype tooling stage in the Tesla's development – a move taken to save time and millions in development costs.

'Beta testing' is common in the car industry to work out kinks and quality issues on the manufacturing process before moving to permanent tooling.

Instead, Tesla leaped from hand-built vehicles straight to the production model.