A Tesla Model 3 owner in Shanghai is pressing a quality complaint after the steel cable inside her seatbelt latch broke while she was preparing to drive, according to Chinese tech news outlet 快科技 (Kuaikeji). The owner, identified as Ms. Lu, said the failure occurred on her 2020 long-range Model 3 when she pulled the belt before starting the car. The seatbelt and latch were original factory parts, she said.
After contacting Tesla's after-sales service, Lu said the company's diagnosis was that the break could have been caused by prolonged bending stress on the pretensioner area. Under Tesla's warranty terms, seatbelts and airbags are covered for five years or 100,000 km (62,000 miles), whichever comes first. Since her car exceeded that period, Tesla said she would have to pay for the repair parts herself.
Lu rejects the wear-and-tear explanation. She argues that a broken steel cable in a seatbelt is a safety-related defect, not normal wear, and points to similar cases reported by other owners online. She has filed complaints with China's 12315 consumer hotline, market regulators, and the National Center for Quality Supervision and Testing of Defective Products.
National standard cited
In a complaint posted on the car quality platform 车质网 (Chezhiwang), Lu cited China's mandatory standard GB 14166-2013, which governs seatbelt assemblies. According to the standard, the steel cable inside the latch is a load-bearing metal connector, and the assembly must withstand a tensile force of at least 14,700 newtons. The latch must pass 5,000 insertion and withdrawal durability tests, and under normal use, internal steel wires must not show fatigue fractures.
Lu noted that the outer protective sleeve of the cable was intact, with no external abrasion, which she says rules out friction-related wear. She is asking Tesla to provide a written inspection report explaining the root cause and a solution.
China's seatbelt standard does not set a mandatory scrappage age; the conventional design life is about 10 years. Lu's car is roughly four years old, and she says it has not been in a major accident. She argues that progressive wire breakage under normal use indicates a quality defect rather than wear.
The case has drawn attention on Chinese social media, with some commenters questioning the durability of safety components in electric vehicles. Tesla has not publicly responded to Lu's complaint as of the report.
