My battle with Tesla: I want to clear my name before I die

Cristina Balan finishing her chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer

A Tesla whistleblower who has battled Elon Musk and his company through the courts for a decade tells BBC News she is still seeking a public apology.

Engineer Cristina Balan was once such a rising star at Tesla in the US that her initials were engraved on the batteries inside every Model S electric car.

But after raising a safety concern about a design flaw which could affect the cars’ braking in 2014, she claims management turned hostile, and she lost her job.

She won a wrongful dismissal case but was later publicly accused by Tesla of using its resources for a “secret project” – accusations which amount to embezzlement which is a crime under US law.

Ms Balan has consistently denied the accusation, and has taken legal action but years later, she is still waiting to have her case heard fully in an open court in California.

Tesla did not respond to BBC News’ requests for comment. The firm has never provided any further details about its accusation.

Ms Balan says she is determined to prove her innocence for the sake of her son:

“I’m his hero," she says.

"I’m the mommy who does airplanes and cars.”

And she does not want him to grow up believing his mother was a thief.

Towards the end of our Zoom call, Cristina Balan removed her wig and tearfully told me she had just finished breast-cancer treatment.

"I want to clear my name. I wish Elon Musk had the decency to apologise," is her message to the company’s billionaire boss.

The initials CB on a Tesla Model S battery, following Cristina Balan's design input

And she says that while she is currently in remission from stage-3B breast cancer, her biggest worry is she may not live to see her final day in court.

Ms Balan shared with BBC News various communications between herself and Tesla from her time working there.

She got off to a good start: she recalls chatting to Mr Musk in the lunch queue at the staff canteen and says she was happy and successful – living her dream, after growing up in Romania with a lifelong passion for cars.

"Everything went south when I realised that they were hiding some critical safety issues," she claims.

Ms Balan was worried the carpets were curling underneath some pedals – a simple but potentially lethal design flaw - and said customers had complained.

"If you cannot push the brake, someone else, outside of a Tesla, can get injured," she says.

"They just had to say, ‘We realise the carpets are bad - just take them out of the cars.’"

But managers rebuffed her concerns and became hostile, Ms Balan claims.

So she emailed Mr Musk, who had directly encouraged employees to come to him personally with any worries that could affect Tesla’s reputation.

"I emailed him two emails," Ms Balan says.

"I sent him one before I was out [of Tesla], telling him that we are all threatened.

"I was thinking in my head, 'He still wants to do what’s right for Tesla.'"

But it failed – and Ms Balan went on to lose her job.

BBC News put her claims to Tesla but received no response.

The company's website says: "Safety is the most important part of every Tesla.

"We design our vehicles to exceed safety standards".

Ms Balan took her concerns to Tesla chief executive Elon Musk

Another Tesla whistleblower, Lukasz Krupski, claimed to have had a similar, unrelated experience after emailing Mr Musk over concerns about working conditions at Tesla’s Norway headquarters.

And Ms Balan says other Tesla staff may be “afraid to speak up”.

Her case will eventually be heard in the California Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal.

It is her only chance of professional vindication, Ms Balan believes.

"I don’t want to give up my career," she says.

"And I know that if I’m not winning this, it doesn’t matter how good I am.

“Everybody will look at what Tesla say about [me], so my career is gone.

"I do not want that.”

Mr Musk's leadership style is notoriously unconventional - but some of those to have worked for him say he gets results.

Dolly Singh, who worked at SpaceX for Mr Musk between 2008 and 2013,  previously told BBC News he was an "incredible leader".

"If that wasn't the case, he wouldn't be accomplishing the things that he is," she said, in 2022.

"Yes, it's exhausting to work for Elon.

"But I think it's a proving ground like nothing else."

US lawyer Gordon Schnell, from the firm Constantine Cannon, says a rising number of technology-sector workers are becoming whistleblowers.

The stakes are so high because tech products have "such a wide impact on the world," he says.

"It really touches all of our lives," he says.

But the advice of Mr Schnell, who specialises in representing whistleblowers, is to explore every possible option before going public with any claims.

"There are so many protected channels in so many different industries that a whistleblower can take, where they can get confidential concerns to the proper government agencies that are best suited to address those concerns," he says.

Additional reporting by Philippa Wain