VinFast, a relatively new carmaker from Vietnam, is soon going to launch its cars in India. But, there’s something you might want to know before its debut. The cars allegedly have a serious design flaw that makes them unsafe and potentially dangerous.
Hazar Denli, an ex-employee of Tata Technologies who worked on the development of the chassis of VinFast cars, alleged that the cars have a serious design flaw that the manufacturers have knowingly ignored.
VinFast has partnered with Tata Technologies, a subsidiary of Tata Motors, for the development of key components for two of its electric vehicles including their chassis.
Denli observed that VinFast had been cutting corners while developing the chassis of its electric vehicles, employing a small team of inexperienced engineers. During testing, Denli reported the suspension systems of the test mules snapping off at low mileages, and other components failing as well after fewer than 25,000km, much before their expected life of at least 1,50,000km.
Denli also said that the poorly designed components such as the front suspension of the car could cause the wheels to get misaligned under stress, such as on hitting a pothole at certain speeds, resulting in the car to veer to the left or right without prompting, and the driver losing the control of the vehicle.
When his concerns were ignored and he was denied a team switch, Denli resigned from Tata Technologies, only to join JLR, another subsidiary of Tata Motors, a few months after that, and get fired from there due to his past whistleblowing move. When his seniors at Tata and VinFast ignored his concerns, Denli took to Reddit to make consumers aware of the potential safety concerns.
Several VinFast cars have been involved in accidents in the past. NHTSA had recently initiated an investigation into the VinFast VF8 after 14 drivers had reported the Lane Keeping Assist system of their car to be faulty. In April 2024, a family of four was killed in a crash at California when a VinFast lost control, veered off the road, hit a pole and caught fire. VinFast is yet to comment on the concerns raised by Hazar Denli.