Report: Elon Musk Headbutts Tesla Car on Assembly Line

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has appeared to become increasingly unhinged recently, first lamenting the hardships of his job while on the verge of tears in an interview with the New York Times, now the Washington Post has published a story detailing Musk headbutting a car on the assembly line.

In a recent interview with the New York Times, Tesla CEO Elon Musk discussed the issues surrounding his electric car company in recent months. The Times described Musk as “struggling to maintain his composure” when he stated: “This past year has been the most difficult and painful year of my career. It was excruciating.”

Musk claimed in the interview that he had been working as many as 120 hours a week recently, saying that he has not had more than a week off work since he was bedridden with Malaria in 2001. “There were times when I didn’t leave the factory for three or four days — days when I didn’t go outside,” he said. “This has really come at the expense of seeing my kids. And seeing friends.”

Now, the Washington Post has detailed more of Musk’s erratic behavior in a recent article which claims that the Tesla CEO began headbutting a car on an assembly line that had been stopped. The assembly line was reportedly stopped due to automatic sensors which activate when a person gets in the way of the line to prevent injury. Musk reportedly was unhappy with the stoppage and believed that even if the cars on the line were moving they could not hurt a person.

According to the Post:

During a tour this spring at Tesla Inc.’s electric-car factory in Fremont, Calif., Elon Musk asked why the assembly line had stopped. Managers said automatic safety sensors halted the line whenever people got in the way.

Mr. Musk became angry, according to people familiar with what happened. His high-profile gamble on mass-producing electric cars had lagged behind since production began, and here was one more frustration. The billionaire entrepreneur began head-butting the front end of a car on the assembly line.

“I don’t see how this could hurt me,” he said of vehicles on the slow-speed line. “I want the cars to just keep moving.”

When a senior engineering manager involved with the system explained that it was a safety measure, Mr. Musk told him, “Get out!”

Tesla said the manager was fired for other reasons.

While Musk’s eccentric behavior has helped to bring attention to Tesla, many are beginning to wonder if the company needs a more stable leader. CNBC reported recently that funds run by investment management titan BlackRock voted to replace Elon Musk as company chairman, filling the role with an independent candidate. According to BlackRock’s filings with the SEC, the removal of Musk as company chairman would not have affected his position as Tesla CEO.

The New York Post also reported that inside sources from Tesla say that over the past few months the company has been in turmoil. From building a production line in a tent to produce 5,000 cars a week, 4,300 of which needed reworking, to Musk tweeting about having “funding secured” to take the company private, which has led to an SEC investigation over whether or not Musk was being truthful about this statement, both Tesla and Musk may be in trouble.