It really ( https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/26/apple-ben...) was ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-29349998 ).

Not even remotely the same. Tesla gets into international news when one guy has an accident. Apple got into international news when they made a design/manufacturing error for an entire generation of phones.

An "entire generation"? Really? Can you provide some totals of bent phones? What percentage of sold phones from that generation failed by bending?

There was also the antenna issue on the iPhone 4, which was patched by giving away the free bumper cases and redesigning with the iPhone 4s. One would call a design issue with all iPhone 4 models an "entire generation", no?

The bumper cases weren't given away because Apple did something wrong, they were given away to try and counter the bad PR that other companies were drumming up. The antenna "issue" that the iPhone 4 had was also an "issue" for every other smartphone.

That's not true. If you went into an Apple Store, you were told it was for possible effects with signal strength.

This was easily demonstrable, and lead to Jobs' infamous "You're holding it wrong" deflection.

To say that nothing was wrong and Apple was just managing PR from those pesky other companies badmouthing it is... the RDF in effect.

Sure, the bumper cases helped, because they moved your hand away from the antenna area. But bumper cases would also help every other smartphone. It was provably not an issue specific to Apple and affected all brands (often to a larger extreme than the iPhone), but there's not much press value in pointing out a common problem for all smartphones whereas there is a lot of press value in manufacturing negative stories about Apple.

The only reality distortion field in effect here is the one that causes everybody to intentionally ignore the fact that every other smartphone had the same problem, and refuse to even acknowledge that fact when other people point it out.

The free bumper program started in July 2010 and ended in October 2010. The iPhone 4 then sold for 3 more years without free bumpers.

It was a PR program.

No, the iPhone 4 sold extremely well, and so did the 4s, which had the same hardware design.

Edit to add: I had a 4 sans bumper for 2 years and it worked great.

The whole question here is IF Tesla maybe did the same. That's why the NHTSA is looking at it.

Didn't the linked post explain that the NHTSA is not looking at it for that reason, but part of routine screening? Or do you think that's a lie?

Does Bendgate count?

Well, not exactly ONE broken iPhone, is it?

When Tesla owners start wrecking their cars on day one of release to make YouTube videos it will be more similar.