Photo: Greg Wester via Twitter | Edited
Many people are reporting that their Tesla suddenly accelerates, taking them by surprise. At the same time, others claim this is impossible since pressing the brake pedal disables the accelerator. Nevertheless, sometimes, the pesky SUA happens to Tesla fans who thought this could never happen to them.
If you are unfamiliar with the term “sudden unintended acceleration” or SUA, it describes incidents when drivers report the car accelerated without them pressing the accelerator. This sometimes led to accidents, and people lost their lives. These days, this term is closely related to Tesla, thanks to a series of incidents and accidents.
However, people forget that the most prominent cases of sudden unintended acceleration occurred from 2000–2010 in Toyota and Lexus vehicles, resulting in as many as 89 deaths and 52 injuries in the USA. It also cost Toyota a lot, considering that more than 9 million vehicles were recalled and the Japanese carmaker was slapped with a $1.2 billion financial penalty by the Justice Department.
As you see, SUA events happened to other brands too. The NHTSA statistics show that roughly 16,000 accidents occur every year in the United States when drivers intend to apply the brake, but mistakenly apply the accelerator.
Nowadays, we hear a lot about Teslas accelerating out of control, even when their drivers apply the brakes. Many of these incidents happened in China, and Tesla’s Chinese owners even became paranoid about that. Some people started installing cameras into the footwell just to have proof in case this happened to them.
Many such reported incidents have been debunked as being caused by driver error. Tesla also claims so in the case of a November 2022 crash in China, when a Tesla Model Y accelerated for more than 1.6 miles (2.6 km) before crashing. They said the driver pushed the accelerator all the way to the floor and never braked. Nevertheless, video footage shows the car had brake lights on, contradicting Tesla’s report. Another crash also happened in China over the weekend, in similar circumstances. This time, the video shows no brake lights until after the car crashed into a bus.
But nothing hits home as something like this happens to a Tesla fan. Greg Wester, a long-time Tesla owner from San Francisco, just shared a close encounter when his Tesla Model 3 suddenly accelerated in a parking garage. According to his story, the car was stopped when it suddenly bounced forward. Luckily, he had his foot on the brake pedal and was able to “overpower it.”
Now, Greg is not a regular driver. He races his Tesla and is also a racing instructor, so he should know when to press the accelerator and when to brake. Greg is trying to comprehend what caused this and is willing to extract the info from the car computer if he finds a way. Nevertheless, he has lost confidence in Tesla now. Following his incident, he wrote on Twitter that he seriously considers installing a 400-volt kill switch next to the steering wheel. He also says that “no pedestrian should ever walk in front of a Tesla that is parking.”
There were many other crashes when people blamed the car for suddenly accelerating. A possible explanation of why this happens more often with Teslas is that the gear selection and Autopilot controls are on the same stalk. If people are unaware that the car is already in Drive, pressing the stalk activates the cruise control at the latest set speed. This might surprise many drivers as the vehicle accelerates rather steeply. It can also incapacitate a driver because acceleration pushes them into the seat, and pressing the brake pedal is more difficult.
Nevertheless, Tesla fans have always dismissed these incidents, saying they are entirely caused by driver error. When so many drivers make the same mistakes, it clearly indicates that something is wrong with the design. Tesla needs to do better on this one, otherwise, more people could get hurt. If you need an analogy, take the case of the Boeing 737 MAX. A feature intended to make flight safer caused two deadly crashes because pilots were confused about how it worked. Boeing had to redesign the flight control system to prevent this from happening again. So should Tesla.
However, people forget that the most prominent cases of sudden unintended acceleration occurred from 2000–2010 in Toyota and Lexus vehicles, resulting in as many as 89 deaths and 52 injuries in the USA. It also cost Toyota a lot, considering that more than 9 million vehicles were recalled and the Japanese carmaker was slapped with a $1.2 billion financial penalty by the Justice Department.
As you see, SUA events happened to other brands too. The NHTSA statistics show that roughly 16,000 accidents occur every year in the United States when drivers intend to apply the brake, but mistakenly apply the accelerator.
Nowadays, we hear a lot about Teslas accelerating out of control, even when their drivers apply the brakes. Many of these incidents happened in China, and Tesla’s Chinese owners even became paranoid about that. Some people started installing cameras into the footwell just to have proof in case this happened to them.
Many such reported incidents have been debunked as being caused by driver error. Tesla also claims so in the case of a November 2022 crash in China, when a Tesla Model Y accelerated for more than 1.6 miles (2.6 km) before crashing. They said the driver pushed the accelerator all the way to the floor and never braked. Nevertheless, video footage shows the car had brake lights on, contradicting Tesla’s report. Another crash also happened in China over the weekend, in similar circumstances. This time, the video shows no brake lights until after the car crashed into a bus.
But nothing hits home as something like this happens to a Tesla fan. Greg Wester, a long-time Tesla owner from San Francisco, just shared a close encounter when his Tesla Model 3 suddenly accelerated in a parking garage. According to his story, the car was stopped when it suddenly bounced forward. Luckily, he had his foot on the brake pedal and was able to “overpower it.”
Now, Greg is not a regular driver. He races his Tesla and is also a racing instructor, so he should know when to press the accelerator and when to brake. Greg is trying to comprehend what caused this and is willing to extract the info from the car computer if he finds a way. Nevertheless, he has lost confidence in Tesla now. Following his incident, he wrote on Twitter that he seriously considers installing a 400-volt kill switch next to the steering wheel. He also says that “no pedestrian should ever walk in front of a Tesla that is parking.”
There were many other crashes when people blamed the car for suddenly accelerating. A possible explanation of why this happens more often with Teslas is that the gear selection and Autopilot controls are on the same stalk. If people are unaware that the car is already in Drive, pressing the stalk activates the cruise control at the latest set speed. This might surprise many drivers as the vehicle accelerates rather steeply. It can also incapacitate a driver because acceleration pushes them into the seat, and pressing the brake pedal is more difficult.
Nevertheless, Tesla fans have always dismissed these incidents, saying they are entirely caused by driver error. When so many drivers make the same mistakes, it clearly indicates that something is wrong with the design. Tesla needs to do better on this one, otherwise, more people could get hurt. If you need an analogy, take the case of the Boeing 737 MAX. A feature intended to make flight safer caused two deadly crashes because pilots were confused about how it worked. Boeing had to redesign the flight control system to prevent this from happening again. So should Tesla.
my Tesla did a sudden unintended acceleration in the underground parking garage. It did a collision warning because of the signs/cones. Then I pulled forward to a stop. And it smashed the accelerator to 4 MPH. My foot was on the brake pedal and I overpowered it. Really messed up
— Greg Wester (@gwestr) February 18, 2023
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