60 Minutes admits to faking Model S noise

Tesla Model S
Tesla Model S

Last week, CBS’ 60 Minutes aired a report on Tesla CEO Elon Musk; a story which featured  the Tesla Model S. For the most part, the report was straight-forward and the Model S came away with glowing results. With one problem: many of the scenes of the car, filmed from the outside, included engine noise purportedly coming from the car.

There were questions on the various Tesla forums and social media with fans asking where the noise was coming from and Jalopnik cleared that up, with the story and source of the sound being confirmed by the Associated Press.

It turns out, a CBS editor added the engine sounds as a matter of rote when doing “car footage.” From AP:

“Spokesman Kevin Tedesco said Tuesday that the loud car audio has been edited out of the online version of teh story on Tesla founder Elon Musk. Anchor Scott Pelley reported the story, and CBS said he wasn’t aware of the added audio ahead of time.”

Yet another media triumph for Tesla, who for their part has remained unusually quiet about this one. This is also yet another blow to CBS News and their 60 Minutes show, which has had more than its fair share of misses in the past year or so.

Aaron Turpen
An automotive enthusiast for most of his adult life, Aaron has worked in and around the industry in many ways. He is an accredited member of the Rocky Mountain Automotive Press (RMAP), the Midwest Automotive Media Association (MAMA), the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA), and freelances as a writer and journalist around the Web and in print. You can find his portfolio at AaronOnAutos.com.