Jaguar Land Rover fires whistleblower over Reddit post

Companies around the world need to save money while being safe. Sadly, some people are willing to take shortcuts, even if it compromises their safety. That’s exactly what Vinfast did, said an engineer who helped the automaker design some components for the VF6 and VF7. To make matters worse, apparently the man was not rewarded for reporting unsafe behavior. Apparently, he was kicked out pretty quickly.

This person is Hazar Denli, an engineer with extensive experience in the automotive industry. He worked at Jaguar Land Rover and its parent company Tata Group until July this year. That’s when the company told him to leave.

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He told the BBC that he leads the engineering team responsible for the front suspension and chassis work. He claimed that during testing, the components were found to be insufficiently strong. “For example, we’re seeing loose connections from the front struts to the steering knuckles, which can be very dangerous,” he said. “This could cause the entire structure to come loose, causing the wheel to come off. In the event of a collision, it could be completely unsafe. This could cause the vehicle to lose control.”

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Danley added that he told top management but the company did nothing to fix the deficiencies. Uncomfortable with his association with the project, he resigned from the position, as did three of his former counterparts. Then, in April this year, a California family of four died after losing control of their Vinfast. The car hit a pillar and burst into flames, killing all four passengers. At that point, Danley said he couldn’t stay silent.

He laid out his claims in a lengthy “Ask Me Anything” post on Reddit. “I would get into every car I’ve designed from other brands… every car has flaws… but Vinfast, I’m not going to get into that… ever, I Nor would I let my loved ones into it,” he wrote. Jaguar Land Rover fired him two months later, which the BBC said had receipts proving it was due to the post.

“Internal documents obtained through a data subject access request (DSAR) reveal that a senior executive at former employer Tata Technologies has contacted Jaguar Land Rover executives seeking to sack him.

After seeing the Reddit post, Patrick Flood, director of human resources at Tata Technologies, discussed the company’s desire to terminate Mr. Denli’s new employment with Dave Williams, director of human resources and board member of Jaguar Land Rover.

Flood told Williams that Tata Group client VinFast conducted its own investigation and identified Danley as the author of the Reddit post: “The concern is that if he did this now, he might end up at Jaguar Land Rover Do the same thing.”

On the same day he was sacked, Denli was blacklisted by industry recruitment platform Magnit, which told Jaguar Land Rover he had been “warned” so any other job applications he made through the platform would be automatically rejected.

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Now Denli is doing everything he can to take JLR to an employment tribunal, and NHTSA is investigating Vinfast. The Vietnamese brand received about 28 complaints on the agency’s website and reported more than a dozen issues with its lane-keeping assist system.

It is worth noting that Danley’s comments also seem to have some practical significance. In early 2023, the company recalled 2,800 vehicles due to a problem with the bolts connecting the brake calipers to the steering knuckles. On Reddit, some people reported damage to the Vinfast car’s front suspension components.

Image source: Locluu2023