According to The Wall Street Journal, Tesla CEO Elon Musk started head-butting a car at Tesla's Fremont, California, factory this spring after he learned the assembly line would stop when people came too close to it.

"I don’t see how this could hurt me," he reportedly said. "I want the cars to just keep moving."

A Tesla spokesperson told Business Insider that Musk tapped the car with his head while wearing a safety hat to demonstrate that it didn't pose a safety risk.

The spokesperson said that the equipment Musk asked about was redundant and was modified after being tested by safety equipment specialists.

A new profile on Tesla CEO Elon Musk gives an unusual example of how the stress of ramping up Model 3 production may have affected him. According to The Wall Street Journal, Musk started head-butting a car at Tesla's Fremont, California, factory this spring after he learned the assembly line would stop when people came too close to it.

The Journal reports that Musk was touring the factory and noticed that the assembly line had stopped. When he asked why, managers reportedly told him it was due to sensors that were triggered as a safety precaution when people interfered with the line.

Their answer reportedly made Musk angry, and he started to head-butt the front end of a car, according to The Journal.

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REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson (UNITED STATES - Tags: TRANSPORT SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS HEADSHOT) Tesla Motors Inc CEO Elon Musk unveils a new all-wheel-drive version of the Model S car in Hawthorne, California October 9, 2014. Tesla Motors Inc on Thursday took its first step toward automated driving, unveiling features that will allow its electric sedan to park itself and sense dangerous situations. The company also said it will roll out an all-wheel drive option of the Model S sedan that can go from zero to 60 miles per hour in 3.2 seconds yet doesn't compromise the vehicle's efficiency. Musk said "D" stands for "dual motor," meaning Tesla's all-wheel drive vehicle will have a motor at either end of the chassis to increase control. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson (UNITED STATES - Tags: TRANSPORT SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS HEADSHOT) Tesla Motors Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk speaks during a news conference in Tokyo September 8, 2014. 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Price/Getty Images for SXSW) BERLIN, GERMANY - NOVEMBER 08: Elon Musk attends the 'Goldenes Lenkrad' Award at Axel Springer Haus on November 8, 2016 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Tristar Media/WireImage) Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk speaks at a press conference during the 67th International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico on September 27, 2016. / AFP / HECTOR GUERRERO (Photo credit should read HECTOR GUERRERO/AFP/Getty Images) Up Next See Gallery Discover More Like This HIDE CAPTION SHOW CAPTION of SEE ALL BACK TO SLIDE

"I don’t see how this could hurt me," he reportedly said. "I want the cars to just keep moving."

A Tesla spokesperson told Business Insider that Musk tapped the car with his head while wearing a safety hat to demonstrate that it didn't pose a safety risk. The spokesperson said that the equipment Musk asked about was redundant and was modified after being tested by safety equipment specialists.

For much of the year after the Model 3 was launched in July 2017, Tesla struggled to ramp up production. The Model 3 is the company's first mass-market car and one Musk said the company was betting its existence on. At the end of June, Tesla achieved its goal of making 5,000 Model 3s in one week. Musk previously said the company would hit that number by the end of 2017 and that sustaining such a production rate was critical for Tesla to become profitable.

The Wall Street Journal's story is not the first describing Musk's alleged displeasure with some safety measures at the Fremont factory. Reveal reported in April that Tesla didn't mark some hazard areas in yellow because Musk reportedly doesn't like the color and avoided other safety signs and markings for aesthetic reasons.

Tesla called Reveal's report "a completely false picture of Tesla and what it is actually like to work here," and claimed it was "an ideologically motivated attack by an extremist organization working directly with union supporters to create a calculated disinformation campaign against Tesla."

Read The Wall Street Journal's full story here.

Have a Tesla news tip? Contact this reporter at mmatousek@businessinsider.com.

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