Confidentiality Agreements as a Veil for Spontaneous Combustion Incidents

Recently, Tesla has once again become the focus of public attention due to disputes with car owners over confidentiality agreements. According to the car owners, after the vehicle caught fire, Tesla required them to sign a confidentiality agreement when providing compensation, prohibiting them from disclosing any information about the vehicle fire to the media or the public. This approach has not only sparked widespread discussion but also raised questions about whether Tesla is trying to cover up potential safety hazards of the vehicle through confidentiality agreements.

 This practice of using confidentiality agreements to require car owners to keep silent about vehicle issues is not unique to Tesla, but as a leading enterprise in the electric vehicle industry, Tesla's actions are more eye-catching. This approach seems to have become a "cover-up" for issues such as spontaneous combustion of vehicles, allowing manufacturers to quell disputes through compensation without publicizing the problems.

However, this practice does not conform to the principles of consumer rights protection. Consumers have the right to understand the performance, quality, and potential risks of a product when purchasing it. When a product has a problem, consumers also have the right to make the issue public so that other consumers can understand and make informed purchasing decisions.

Recently, in a Tesla Model Y spontaneous combustion incident, not only was the entire vehicle burned, but the car owner's personal belongings worth 30,000 to 40,000 yuan in the car were also reduced to ashes. According to preliminary investigations by the fire department, the cause of the fire may be an electrical fault in the vehicle's steering integrated circuit board connector. In the face of this incident, Tesla has expressed its willingness to compensate the car owner for the loss of personal belongings of 30,000 yuan, but the prerequisite is that the car owner must sign a confidentiality agreement, promising to delete all videos, photos, and voice data related to this fire incident.

The car owner finds it hard to accept and believes that such a practice violates their legal rights and interests. The two parties have not yet reached an agreement on compensation and the confidentiality agreement. In fact, against the backdrop of frequent spontaneous combustion incidents of electric vehicles, many car companies often attach confidentiality agreements as a condition when compensating and appeasing car owners. These agreements usually require car owners not to disclose any information related to vehicle issues to the media or the public. In the eyes of some car owners, this practice is a manifestation of car companies trying to cover up the truth of the problem and shirk responsibility.

It is worth noting that this practice of using confidentiality agreements to restrict car owners is not an isolated case. At the CCTV "3.15" evening party in 2021, a car company was exposed for similar issues and sparked controversy. It was reported that when some car owners found serious problems with the vehicle, they were required to sign a confidentiality agreement in exchange for repairs or extended warranty period and other conditions. These agreements often contain unequal terms, making car owners feel humiliated and helpless in the process of rights protection.

For car companies, using confidentiality agreements to restrict car owners may avoid the spread of negative public opinion in the short term, but in the long run, this approach is not conducive to the construction of the company's brand image and reputation. A responsible company should face problems bravely and actively solve problems, instead of trying to cover up the truth and shirk responsibility through confidentiality agreements. Therefore, industry insiders call on car companies to be more open, transparent, and fair when dealing with similar incidents. At the same time, car owners should also enhance their awareness of rights protection and protect their legal rights and interests from infringement. Only in this way can we jointly promote the healthy development of the electric vehicle industry.

Confidentiality agreements, as a type of contract, have legal effect depending on the constitutive elements of the contract establishment and effectiveness. As long as the content of the contract is legal and is the true expression of the will of both parties, then this contract has legal effect and can effectively bind both parties.

**Beijing Huinuo Law Firm Partner Luan Feifei** said in an interview with a reporter from "China Automobile News" that the effectiveness of confidentiality agreements will vary according to the specific scenario and the content of the agreement. Taking the confidentiality agreement signed by Tesla and car owners as an example, such agreements are usually intended to restrict the behavior of car owners by giving them certain compensation, thereby maintaining the positive brand image of the vehicle brand merchants and manufacturers. The agreement may include clauses such as car owners no longer claiming rights to the car manufacturer, not pursuing the manufacturer's responsibility, and not releasing relevant information to any institutions or media.

"For the validity of such confidentiality agreements, we need to judge according to the specific scenario of signing the agreement and the specific content of the agreement." Luan Feifei emphasized that if the content of the agreement violates public order and good customs, harms public interests, or violates the mandatory provisions of laws and administrative regulations, then the agreement will be deemed invalid. For example, if there are design defects in the vehicle or a large number of vehicles have common problems, signing a confidentiality agreement may conceal these problems from the relevant industry regulatory departments and the social public, which not only harms the personal interests of consumers but may also cause damage to the interests of other car buyers and poses hidden dangers to public safety. In this case, the confidentiality agreement should be deemed invalid, and the vehicle manufacturer should take timely measures such as notification and recall to maintain the personal safety and legal rights and interests of car buyers.

However, for occasional individual vehicle quality issues, Luan Feifei believes that such confidentiality agreements should be regarded as valid agreements concluded on the basis of friendly negotiation and equal voluntariness. In this case, car owners make certain concessions to obtain certain compensation, promising not to claim rights from the operator through the accident, and maintain the brand image through various media means. Such confidentiality agreements are valid when both parties reach an agreement.

Luan Feifei also pointed out that consumers still have the right to report other vehicle failure issues to relevant regulatory departments and maintain their rights and interests through legal means, regardless of whether they have signed a confidentiality agreement.

With the arrival of summer, new energy vehicles have also ushered in a high incidence period of fire risk. Although in the past three years, the fire incidence rate of new energy vehicles has decreased from 1.85 vehicles per 10,000 vehicles in 2021 to 0.96 vehicles per 10,000 vehicles in 2023, which is significantly lower than the fire rate of about 1.5 vehicles per 10,000 vehicles for fuel vehicles, there are still misconceptions about the safety of new energy vehicles among the public.

**Deputy Researcher Zhang Liang of the Tianjin Fire Research Institute of the Ministry of Emergency Management** pointed out that high temperature, high humidity, and the rainy season will increase the safety risks of new energy vehicles. Therefore, car owners should regularly carry out vehicle maintenance, maintenance, and testing, and avoid overcharging during the charging process. Dong Yang, Chairman of the China Automotive Power Battery Industry Innovation Alliance, also emphasized that although the fire accident rate of electric vehicles is lower than that of fuel vehicles, we lack experience in dealing with such accidents. Therefore, car owners, emergency disposal institutions, and manufacturers need to work together to improve the handling ability of new energy vehicle fire accidents.

Legal professionals suggest that when a vehicle spontaneously combusts and the company requires the signing of a confidentiality agreement, consumers should calmly analyze the situation to ensure that their rights and interests are protected. By understanding the content of the confidentiality agreement in detail, judging the necessity of signing, negotiating modifications with the company, recording and preserving evidence