Tesla Motors, Inc. safety record at a glance
Tesla Motors, Inc. has been the subject of 30 Cal/OSHA inspections in California since 2000, opened between Sep 23, 2010 and Mar 17, 2026. 13 of them were accident inspections. 16 of them produced citations, 43 in all: 12 serious. Inspectors proposed $198,545 in penalties; after appeals and settlements the current total is $147,185. The largest single penalty, $71,000, came from an inspection opened Nov 13, 2013 in Fremont. That places the employer at #204 of 122,854 California employers in the database by penalties. It also appears in 1 federal wage and hour case.
Industry as coded by the inspecting office: Manufacturing; Wholesale Trade; Construction. Worksites in Sunnyvale, Lathrop, Moraga, San Francisco, Newark, Fremont, Los Angeles, Palo Alto.
Every inspection, newest first
Click a date for the citations in that inspection.
| Opened | City | Why | Result | Penalty | Closed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 17, 2026 | Sunnyvale | Accident | no citations | $0 | Sep 3, 2026 |
| May 10, 2024 | Lathrop | Complaint | no citations | $0 | May 28, 2024 |
| Jan 3, 2024 | Lathrop | Complaint | no citations | $0 | Mar 12, 2024 |
| Nov 9, 2023 | Lathrop | Complaint | no citations | $0 | Dec 26, 2023 |
| May 9, 2023 | Lathrop | Complaint | no citations | $0 | Jul 28, 2023 |
| Apr 14, 2023 | Lathrop | Accident | 1 citation | $650 $800 proposed | Oct 23, 2023 |
| Sep 8, 2022 | Lathrop | Complaint | no citations | $0 | Feb 3, 2023 |
| May 4, 2021 | Moraga | Complaint | no citations | $0 | Oct 13, 2021 |
| Oct 23, 2020 | Lathrop | Complaint | no citations | $0 | Mar 9, 2021 |
| Nov 8, 2018 | San Francisco | Complaint | no citations | $0 | Feb 11, 2019 |
| Jun 29, 2017 | Newark | Complaint | 6 citations | $1,900 $4,250 proposed | Jan 22, 2018 |
| Feb 24, 2016 | Fremont | Complaint | 1 citation | $375 $1,125 proposed | May 31, 2016 |
| Sep 15, 2015 | Fremont | Accident | 3 citations | $2,175 | Apr 24, 2017 |
| Jun 19, 2015 | Los Angeles | Accident | 1 citation | $3,000 $5,000 proposed | Feb 2, 2017 |
| Jun 8, 2015 | Fremont | Accident | 4 citations | $6,680 | Jun 13, 2016 |
| Jun 1, 2015 | Fremont | Accident | 2 citations 1 serious | $9,370 | Mar 12, 2016 |
| May 18, 2015 | Fremont | Unprogrammed related | no citations | $0 | Sep 29, 2015 |
| Apr 10, 2015 | Lathrop | Unprogrammed related | 1 citation | $750 $935 proposed | Dec 21, 2015 |
| Dec 12, 2014 | Fremont | Accident | 1 citation | $750 | Nov 21, 2016 |
| Dec 8, 2014 | Fremont | Accident | 7 citations 4 serious | $40,400 $70,000 proposed | Jul 14, 2016 |
| Oct 28, 2014 | Fremont | Accident | 1 citation | $0 $450 proposed | Feb 19, 2015 |
| Aug 22, 2014 | Fremont | Unprogrammed related | 3 citations | $350 $1,265 proposed | Apr 14, 2015 |
| Aug 21, 2014 | Fremont | Unprogrammed related | no citations | $0 | Aug 22, 2014 |
| Aug 6, 2014 | Fremont | Accident | 1 citation | $935 | Jul 2, 2015 |
| Apr 11, 2014 | Fremont | Unprogrammed related | no citations | $0 | Apr 12, 2014 |
| Nov 13, 2013 | Fremont | Accident | 7 citations 5 serious | $71,000 | Feb 14, 2015 |
| Jul 24, 2012 | Fremont | Accident | 3 citations 1 serious | $3,450 $5,810 proposed | Dec 8, 2012 |
| Dec 7, 2011 | Palo Alto | Accident | 1 citation 1 serious | $5,400 $18,000 proposed | Nov 17, 2012 |
| May 19, 2011 | Palo Alto | Complaint | no citations | $0 | May 26, 2011 |
| Sep 23, 2010 | South San Francisco | Complaint | no citations | $0 | Sep 30, 2010 |
Also recorded as: Tesla Motors; Tesla Motors, Inc; Tesla Motors Inc.
The rules this employer was cited under
- 8 CCR 3203, Injury and Illness Prevention Program: 11 citations, 3 serious, $37,210
- 8 CCR 3314, Lockout and cleaning of machinery: 5 citations, 3 serious, $43,050
- 8 CCR 3650, Industrial trucks, operating rules: 5 citations, $3,805
- 8 CCR 342, Reporting serious injuries and deaths: 2 citations, $8,000
- 8 CCR 3272, Aisles, Walkways, and Crawlways: 2 citations, $1,410
- 8 CCR 3380, Personal protective equipment: 2 citations, $175
- 8 CCR 3328, Machinery and equipment, general: 1 citation, 1 serious, $18,000
- 8 CCR 2940, General Provisions: 1 citation, 1 serious, $10,000
Accidents investigated
Local pages: Sunnyvale employment lawyer.
How to read this record
Each row is one inspection by Cal/OSHA (or, rarely, federal OSHA) of one worksite. Why is the reason it was opened. Penalty is the current figure after any appeal or settlement; where it was reduced, the amount the inspector first proposed is shown under it. "Serious" means a realistic possibility of death or serious harm; "willful" and "repeat" carry penalties up to $162,851 each.
Citations document that the employer was told, in writing, what the rule required and when. That knowledge is often the center of a retaliation case: a worker who complained about the hazard an inspector later cited, and was then fired or cut, has a Labor Code 6310 claim, with lost wages and attorney's fees.
Full explainer: how to read a Cal/OSHA record.
If you work, or worked, at Tesla Motors, Inc.
Write down what you reported, to whom and when, and what changed afterward: shifts, pay, duties, write-ups. Request the inspection file from the Cal/OSHA district office using the activity number on the inspection page. An injury goes through workers' compensation; a firing, demotion or threat after a safety complaint or injury report is an employment claim with a one-year deadline at the Labor Commissioner (Labor Code 6310) and a longer one in court. Free, confidential review: (800) 371-3088 or send what you have.
Source: U.S. Department of Labor OSHA enforcement data, California inspections. Record last checked Nov 1, 2026. Back to the safety tracker.
About this data: Records come from the U.S. Department of Labor's OSHA enforcement datasets (inspection, violation, accident and accident injury tables), which carry Cal/OSHA's state-plan inspections alongside federal ones. We load every inspection of a California worksite opened since January 1, 2000 and refresh it weekly. Employer names, addresses and industry codes are as the inspecting office recorded them; similar names are grouped where they clearly refer to the same employer. A citation can be reduced, vacated or withdrawn on appeal, and an inspection can stay open for months, so a record can change. Penalties shown as "current" reflect the latest status in the federal file. This page is public information about the employer's regulatory record, not legal advice and not a statement that any person was harmed or any law broken beyond what the record states.