On Friday, a Tesla spokeswoman said in an email that "to remove any doubt," the automaker would modify the language of the documents to make clear that the goal "is to benefit customers, while not harming us for doing a good deed." She did not elaborate on how it would be changed.
The safety agency said in a statement that the changes were satisfactory, without elaborating. It described its review of the Model S suspension as "a routine data collection," adding that it had not found any safety issues so far and that Tesla was cooperating.
In agreements like the one Mr. Cordaro signed, Tesla refers to the repairs as a "gesture of good will," made without "any admission of liability or wrongdoing or acceptance of any facts."
That statement alone is uncontroversial. It is standard legalese protecting Tesla from admitting any wrongdoing by way of making a repair, said David Vladeck, a law professor at Georgetown University and a former director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection.
But he said two other provisions in the contract were problematic in that they seemed to muzzle consumers: asking car owners to waive the right to future legal action and to keep the entire incident confidential.
"You agree to keep confidential our provision of the good will, the terms of this agreement and the incidents or claims leading or related to our provision of the good will," the Tesla document said.
Tesla said it was "preposterous" to suggest that it was trying to prevent owners from reporting safety problems to N.H.T.S.A. or any other government agency. But Mr. Vladeck said that distinction was unimportant. "Most reasonable consumers would interpret this as a provision prohibiting them from talking to anyone, including government or lawyers or anybody else," he said.
Tesla was founded in 2003 with the idea of establishing battery-powered cars as a viable emissions-free replacement for the internal combustion engine, and challenging many auto industry conventions. It sells cars directly to customers without franchised dealers, a practice that has led to legal battles in several states.
The company is also building a gigantic battery factory in Nevada and often announces news in Twitter posts by Mr. Musk.
The use of nondisclosure agreements with customers appears to be highly unusual in the auto industry. Ford, General Motors and Toyota all said they did not have customers sign confidentiality agreements in exchange for fixing cars that have broken down.
Joan Claybrook, a former head of N.H.T.S.A., said requiring customers to keep quiet about repairs aroused suspicion. "I don't know why they'd do that," she said. "It makes it seem like they want to cover something up."
Representative Leonard Lance, Republican of New Jersey, introduced legislation in Congress in April that would prevent companies from including nondisclosure clauses in consumer contracts. California, where Tesla is based, enacted a similar law in 2014.
News of Mr. Cordaro's breakdown and the nondisclosure agreement he signed was trumpeted by auto bloggers tracking suspension problems in the Model S, a luxury sedan whose pricing starts at about $ 70,000.
The N.H.T.S.A. website lists 33 complaints received since October about suspension failures in the car, Tesla's top-selling model.
Mr. Cordaro, an auto enthusiast who used to make hot rod cars, said Friday that he did not think the agreement barred him from talking to the safety agency or anyone else about the breakdown his car suffered in late April. When he reviewed it, Mr. Cordaro concluded that "it was basically toothless," he said. "It only keeps me from talking about the costs and filing a lawsuit."
In fact, he posted a short video on YouTube showing the broken ball joint from his car.
Once his car was repaired and returned, he filed details of his suspension issue with the safety agency, and a few weeks later got the broken ball joint from Tesla and sent it on to N.H.T.S.A.
But he was nevertheless upset with how Tesla has dealt with what he thinks could pose a serious safety concern. "If it had happened on the highway, it could have been catastrophic," Mr. Cordaro, 61, said by phone while driving his Model S.
The owner of a vending machine company in Connellsville, Pa., about 50 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, he said he was a Tesla fan and had already put down deposits to buy two Model 3 compacts when they come out in a year or so. "I just want them to look into this and do the right thing," he said.
Mr. Cordaro said he was further annoyed because Tesla, in its blog post about the Model S suspension and confidentiality agreements, suggested his breakdown had resulted from hard driving.
The company said he lived on a long dirt road and noted that his car was "caked with mud" when it was picked up — information that Mr. Cordaro called "a fabrication."
"I wasn't out four-wheeling in the car," he said. "I live on an asphalt road and have maybe driven on dirt roads 10 times."
A Tesla spokeswoman said the company was looking into the matter.
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