Organization background -고은

Slide 1
Hello, we are Group 3 and the crisis management we chose was the Tesla autopilot incident.

Slide 2
These are the table of contents we would go through the presentation.

Slide 3
We will start off with the organization's background information.

Tesla is a company that designs and manufactures electrical vehicles with the feature Autopilot in the
vehicle. Tesla Autopilot is a collection of driver assistance features that are designed to make driving
safer and less stressful

Slide 4

Tesla employs over 140,500 people and reported a revenue of $96.77 billion dollars in 2023 with a
market capitalization of $809.93 billion dollars in 2024. Tesla relocated its headquarters from Palo
Alto California to Austin Texas. Establishing its main base near Gigafactory Texas, a key production
site for Model Y and Cybertruck. The company aims to accelerate sustainable energy transition,
expanding its electric vehicle lineup and developing renewable energy products like Powerwall and
Solar Roof.

Slide 5

So Tesla was founded in 2003 by Martin Ebherhard who was the CEO at that time with Marc
Tarpenning being the CFO of Tesla Motors. It was called Tesla Motors, a name the company truncated
in 2017. Elon Musk joined as Tesla’s largest shareholder in February 2004 and was named the chief
executive, but when Martin Ebherhard and Tarpenning both left the company in 2008, Elon Musk
took over the company.

Tesla’s organizational culture fosters human resource competence for innovative energy products,
motivating its workforce to seek ideal solutions. The company encourages innovation and optimizes
creative behaviors, forming the foundation for technological innovation. Tesla’s six main features
include moving fast, doing the impossible, constantly innovating, reasoning from first principles,
thinking like owners, and being all in.

Slide 6

Elon Musk is a billionaire and entrepreneur who found companies like PayPal, SpaceX, and Tesla. He
shares his opinions on social media, especially Twitter and his behavior has affect the image of the
brands, such as smoking marijuana on Joe Rogan’s podcast causing Tesla’s stock to drop. During the
Tesla Autopilot incident which included deaths of several people, he stated that drivers must remain
attentive while using Autopilot and warned about the risk of drivers not paying attention and this
brought negative public attention.
Slide 7

Tesla’s reputation is defined by their PR practices. In 2020, Elon Musk replaced Tesla’s public
relations for X which was Twitter with using the technique named “mouth-to-mouth”. Ross Gerber, a
longtime Tesla investor, believed that Musk’s controversial behavior on social media is playing a role
in Tesla’s downfall. However Tesla’s reputation is mixed with praising Tesla for the advanced
charging capabilities and the luxury feeling. Some criticizing Tesla’s lack of interest in poor work
conditions and wages of workers. Not only that but for Tesla’s blaming of drivers instead of the self-
driving system found in models which made the company have the highest accident rate in 2023.
Crisis background –Jodie

Slide 9:

Dating back to January 2018 before the official investigation began the Office of Defects
Investigation (ODI) had identified 11 incidents, in which Teslas using Autopilot crashed into parked
emergency vehicles.

Then following these events on August 13 th 2021 the NHTSA opened an official investigation into
Tesla's Autopilot system.

In the Fall of 2021, the NHTSA gathered data from Tesla and other manufacturers regarding the
Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), focusing on the safety and effectiveness of the
Autopilot feature.

Throughout 2022, the NHTSA reviewed numerous crashes involving Autopilot, analyzing crash
circumstances and data from Tesla's onboard cameras and event data recorders. A total of 467 crashes
involving Autopilot were identified, resulting in 14 fatalities and 54 injuries.

Slide 10:

On December 12, 2023, Tesla filed a Defect Information Report, acknowledging that the Autopilot
system requires constant human supervision. The report indicated that the system controls may be
insufficient for a driver assistance system in certain circumstances.

Also, in December 2023, Tesla recalled over 2 million vehicles to update warning signals, enhancing
driver awareness and ensuring that users remain attentive while using Autopilot.

In April 2024, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration officially closed the investigation,
concluding that there was a considerable safety gap in the autopilot’s capabilities and driver
expectations.

Slide 11:

When we looked into the Crash Analysis NHTSA's investigation found that many crashes could have
been avoided if drivers had been more attentive. Specific patterns were noted, such as incidents
occurring predominantly at night and under conditions where emergency scene indicators were
present.
Regarding its Safety Concerns, the investigation raised concerns about the effectiveness of Autopilot
in detecting and responding to emergencies. It emphasized that human oversight is crucial despite
being an advanced driver assistance system.
For Regulatory Action, the findings led to further scrutiny of Tesla's Autopilot system, resulting in
recalls and updates to improve the system's safety and driver engagement features.

Slide 12:

Despite the controversies surrounding its Autopilot system, Tesla did not suffer significant market
damage due to several key factors. First, many consumers tended to separate the Autopilot function
from the Tesla vehicle itself. Even though the autonomous driving system faced issues, people
generally believed that driving the car manually would ensure safety.

The second reason Tesla’s market share did not suffer significantly was because compared to other
brands, Tesla offered a relatively affordable price while highlighting the environmental benefits of
electric vehicles. These factors made Tesla highly attractive to consumers, particularly those who
valued cost relative to performance. In conclusion, despite the controversies surrounding Autopilot,
Tesla maintained its market dominance due to its strong price positioning, environmental appeal,
innovative technology, and brand loyalty.
Coding procedures -민경

Slide 13 : Introduction to Coding Procedures

Presenter:
Let’s move on to the Coding Procedures we used for analyzing media coverage of Tesla’s
Autopilot crisis.

Slide 14
Our goal was to determine how different news outlets portrayed Tesla’s investigation and
what crisis management strategies Tesla used. Let me walk you through the steps we
followed and the thoughts behind our choices."

Slide 15: Selection of News Outlets

Presenter:
"We selected six U.S.-based news outlets to ensure a balanced representation of political
perspectives. These included:

 Left-leaning outlets: NBC News and ABC News,

 Neutral outlets: BBC and The Wall Street Journal.
 Right-leaning outlets: Fox News and The New York Post, and

The selection was based on three factors:

1. Political stance: To capture diverse viewpoints.

2. Trust levels: Using YouGov's 2024 trust analysis, we tried to choose trusted news
outlets but unfortunately, most if not all right wing news outlets had relatively lower
trust ratings.

Slide 16
3. Coverage availability: Outlets with extensive coverage on Tesla’s investigation
were prioritized.

This process resulted in 93 articles distributed evenly among our team of six coders, with
each coder analyzing 16 articles."

Slide 17: Keyword and Focus Criteria

Presenter:
"To maintain focus, we used the keywords 'Tesla,' 'Autopilot,' and 'Investigation' to identify
relevant articles within the timeline of January 2018 to April 2024. We excluded any external
crises involving Tesla CEO Elon Musk or other unrelated issues to keep our analysis
centered on the Autopilot investigation."

Slide 18 : Inter-Coder Reliability Process

Presenter:
"To ensure consistency and accuracy, we conducted an inter-coder reliability test using
10% of the total articles, which amounted to 9 articles.

Slide 19
Each coder made 117 coding decisions, resulting in:

 84 agreements and
 33 disagreements,
leading to an initial reliability of 71.79%.

Slide 20
To improve reliability, we standardized our approach by talking about our disagreements

 Source Attribution: While coding we realized many articles were quoting National
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) so we agreed to add it to our coding sheet as a
source.
 Past Crises: we also argued as to what should be considered past crises. We came
to the conclusion that everything out of our timeframe would be considered past
crises.

Slide 22
 Crisis Management: There was some confusion for “denial” so we agreed to use
“denial with shifting the blame” for cases where Tesla mentioned other factors for the
cause of the accident.
 Responsibility Attribution: We were unsure for certain articles on who is blamed?
This was resolved by selecting “mixed (blaming both the driver and Tesla)” for
articles that simultaneously accuse and shield Tesla.

Slide 21
 For example we have a direct quote of an article we considered as mixed.

“Drivers who are using their phones during an accident are usually at fault, Metler said. But
because of Tesla’s Autopilot, "we look at it and think it was reasonable to trust the safety
features the way it was advertised.”

Slide 23
 Overarching Theme - disagreements for interpretations of the themes and
maximum number of themes that could be selected arrised So we Standardized the
selection process by creating Non-Overlapping parameters and limiting it to two
themes per article

Slide 24
After these adjustments, we conducted a second reliability test using 3 additional articles.
This resulted in 30 agreements out of 39 decisions, raising our reliability to 76.92%."
Result of coding analysis –Libby
 To properly gauge Tesla’s public image, we took a look at each article’s dominant attitude
towards the company. While neutrality was common, the lacking articles with a positive
perception of Tesla indicated that the brand’s reputation has suffered. Furthermore, the
predominately bad attitudes surrounding Autopilot specifically suggests that there is a fatal
flaw in the feature that is abundant throughout every news outlet regardless of political
standpoint. The lacking positive attitudes towards Autopilot when compared to the few that
the Tesla itself has, shows that the media tends to separate Autopilot from the brand. (25)

 Contrastingly, the attitude towards individual drivers remained fairly neutral with only
15.1% of articles depicting the drivers in a strictly negative light. (27)

 Taking a look at responsibility attribution, neither Tesla nor the drivers were blamed in
38.7% of articles meaning that the article did not discuss responsibility attribution but rather
stuck to facts concerning the crashes or investigation. Out of the 57 articles that discussed
responsibility attribution, the blame is placed on Tesla in 61.4% of those, accurately
reflecting the attitudes as previously discussed. Tesla was perceived at fault nearly three
times more often than the individual drivers alone while a small margin of articles
determined that both Tesla and the drivers were to blame (28)

 Taking a look at Tesla’s crisis management, we can see that nearly half of all 93 articles did
not contain any sort of strategy. A mere 49.5% of articles included crisis management
strategies with the most prevalent strategy being denial.(29)

 With an emphasis on shift the blame. 32 of the 39 denial articles shift the blame either to the
individual drivers or in some circumstances, to highway conditions such as improper
barricades. 7 of the 39 articles denied Autopilot’s involvement all together. (30)

 The second most used strategy was reduction offensiveness with compensation and attack
the accuser as the most common. Before the initial NHTSA investigation, there were several
lawsuits against Tesla regarding crashes that were fatal with Tesla settling them privately.
Tesla, Elon Musk specifically, also attacked the accuser, the NHTSA, by demeaning the
accuracy of the organization and its true motivations for investigating Tesla specifically. (31)

 Only 7 articles contained evasion of responsibility, each one because of defeasibility

wherein Tesla claimed to have a lack of knowledge or control over the crisis

 Corrective action was only discussed in 13 of the 93 articles with eight of these concerned
with a plan to solve the problem such as recalls issued by Tesla. 5 discuss problem
 prevention such as the implementation of new safety features and additional warnings
pertaining to driver’s keeping their hands on the wheel). (33)

 Mortification was the least present strategy with Tesla only apologizing in two articles, both
of which discussed the death of a man in a crash involving Autopilot and his wife urged for
an explanation. Acceptance of responsibility occurred in the same case wherein Tesla lost a
lawsuit against the family of the driver. (34)

 When comparing Left leaning vs. Right leaning news outlets, the results were largely
the same with some minor differences that might suggest latent attitudes regarding
Tesla. The Left leaning news outlets were 9.5% more likely to bring up Tesla’s past
crises. These included crashes prior to the investigation time period or crashes/
issues unrelated to Autopilot. This might indicate that the left leaning media is more
critical of Tesla and feels the need to accentuate a crisis by relating it to Tesla’s
history. (35)

 Right leaning articles were also less likely to have negative attitudes towards
Autopilot with merely 38.7% (12) of articles expressing these attitudes. The left
leaning articles, meanwhile, were 47.4% (18) negative towards Autopilot. Right
leaning outlets also had a more mixed attitude on the Autopilot feature with 25.8% (8
out of 31) of articles having both positive and negative attitudes towards the driving
aid while only 7.9% (3 out of 38) of left leaning articles were mixed on their attitudes,
indicating that the left is inclined to perceive Tesla as strictly negative rather than a
mix of both negative and positive outlooks. (36)

 Additionally, right leaning outlets were 9.9% more likely to remain neutral, blaming
neither the driver nor Tesla when considering responsibility attribution as opposed to
the left that was more inclined to portray someone at fault, usually Tesla. This further
proves the inference that the Left is more critical to Tesla than the right leaning
articles. (37)

 Problem definition was the most common theme among the content with 50 articles
containing this as a theme. This implies the complexity of the crisis with the media
looking to clarify details concerning a crisis and little articulation from Tesla.
Responsibility attribution and consequence assessment were close behind as
common topics with 33 and 31 articles respectively, indicating that accountability
was unclear and Tesla may face scrutiny regarding transparency and the long-term
effects of such criticism. The least common themes were human interest and moral
evaluation with less than 25% of articles highlighting these concerns, suggesting
that the crisis was largely seen through a strategic lens rather than an ethical one.
Evaluation -준희

(39) Now we will look at evaluation toward Tesla’s response.

(40) As we analyzed the data, one thing became clear: Tesla’s response was not optimal, which means
the crisis was not managed effectively.

(41) While it is true that Tesla conducted a large-scale recall of its self-driving cars at the end of 2023,
this action came long after the accidents had occurred, and no other steps were taken to minimize
further damage or prevent similar crises in the future. As mentioned in the earlier content analysis, 35
out of the 93 articles attributed responsibility to Tesla, which is nearly three times the 12 articles that
blamed the drivers. On the other hand, Tesla’s response primarily relied on a crisis management
strategy of denial, which shifting the blame to the drivers. Tesla quickly argued that even with
Autopilot, drivers should have kept their hands on the wheel and paid attention. This was not an
appropriate course of action for a company of Tesla’s size and stature.

(42) An interesting finding from the content analysis was despite the significant number of fatalities
and the scale of the incident, Tesla responded passively or mainly avoided responsibility, yet the
company’s market share remained stable. This can be better understood when we consider the cultural
context in the U.S. Compared to other countries like Korea, the U.S. has a greater cultural tolerance
for technological risks and a strong emphasis on individual responsibility. The U.S. legal system
prioritizes individual liability, allowing companies to minimize exposure to lawsuits and legal risks.
While corporate social responsibility (CSR) is important, legal risk mitigation takes precedence,
which is why Tesla focused on legal defense rather than public apologies or taking full responsibility.
Moreover, Americans tend to accept technological risks more readily, so Tesla’s approach of blaming
the drivers did not spark significant controversy. This aligns with U.S. values, where personal fault is
more readily accepted and companies respond in ways that minimize legal exposure.

However, it is true that Tesla did not make an active effort to address the incident or communicate a
clear stance through news media. The majority of Tesla's responses were limited to occasional

mentions by its owner, Elon Musk, on Twitter. Thus, it cannot be said that Tesla prioritized customer
safety. This has created an enduring negative perception of Tesla's Autopilot system among customers.
Recommendation – Cindy (43)
Tesla's failure to focus on having a more human-centered crisis communication strategy and failure to
balance legal risk minimization with proactive PR management damaged its public image. The
company’s strategy to blame drivers, along with its marketing of Autopilot features that has been seen
as misleading to buyers, further fueled criticism. A more coordinated approach between legal and PR
teams, alongside clearer communication and marketing adjustments, could have helped Tesla manage
the crisis and rebuild trust. (44)

To better handle future crises, Tesla should re-establish a dedicated PR team to ensure structured and
professional responses. This team would manage media relations, deliver clear and consistent
messages, and communicate transparently with stakeholders to build and maintain public trust. To
further enhance trust and safety, Tesla could launch educational campaigns or workshops to inform
drivers about the proper use of the Autopilot system, highlighting its capabilities, limitations, and the
importance of staying attentive while driving. While it is important to maintain brand reputation and
protect the company’s image via crisis management strategies such as denial and reduction of
offensiveness, it is also essential to effectively communicate a crisis with emphasis on customer safety
by providing PR strategies and effective consumer support to enhance Tesla’ public image as a
company that recognizes their customer’s safety as their primary concern. (45)