Tesla calls bullshit on claims that its cars are prone to “sudden unintended acceleration.”
A December petition asking the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to investigate and recall 500,000 Tesla vehicles is “completely false,” according to the automaker.
“We investigate every single incident where the driver alleges to us that their vehicle accelerated contrary to their input,” the Tesla Team wrote in an angry blog post. “And in every case where we had the vehicle’s data, we confirmed that the car operated as designed.
“In other words, the car accelerates if, and only if, the driver told it to do so, and it slows or stops when the driver applies the brake,” the company condescended.
Signed by 127 Tesla owners, the petition—brought by “short-seller” (someone who profits when a company’s stock drops) Brian Sparks—contends that a defect caused 110 crashes and 52 injuries involving Model 3, Model S, and Model X cars.
“I believe Tesla vehicles have a structural flaw which puts their drivers and the public at risk,” Sparks, of Berkeley, Calif., wrote in a September 2019 letter to NHTSA. “I further believe Tesla must know of this flaw and be unresponsive to it.”
It wouldn’t be the first time someone mistakenly pressed the accelerator pedal instead of the brake. (An elderly neighbor recently did just that while trying to pull out of a parallel parking space next to our car. Thank God for insurance!)
Built-in sensors, however, ensure errors like that don’t occur in Tesla vehicles, the firm asserted.
Always transparent with NHTSA, Elon Musk’s EV manufacturer has worked with the transportation agency to assess “the majority” of complaints in this petition.
“In every case we reviewed with them,” the blog said, “the data proved the vehicle functioned properly.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration declined to provide a timeline for its preliminary investigation, instead telling Geek that the agency will “carefully review the petition and relevant data,” and post its final decision online.
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