Tesla Dismisses Chinese Investigation on SUA Cases By Recalling 1,104,622 BEVs

That includes all vehicles the American BEV maker has sold in China since January 12, 2019. Imported units of the Model S, Model X, Model 3, and Model Y are included, as well as the Model 3 and Model Y made at Giga Shanghai. Why doesn't the recall list all vehicles Tesla ever sold in China since August 2013? The explanation seems to be related to the "energy regenerative braking strategy."

According to SAMR, all units in the recall do not allow the driver to select the strategy they prefer the car to follow. While it could seem that the recall relates only to that point, the Chinese regulator also clarified that these vehicles "may not provide enough reminders when the driver depresses the accelerator pedal deeply for a long time. The superposition of the above factors may increase the probability of mistakenly stepping on the accelerator pedal for a long time, which may increase the risk of collision and pose a safety hazard." This is supposedly the cause of several crashes in China and elsewhere in which the drivers sustain that the brakes failed.

At Auto Shanghai 2021, Zhang Yazhou became world-famous when she jumped on top of a Tesla Model 3 to protest against her vehicle's defective brakes. She wore a T-shirt that said "Brakes Lost Control" and "Invisible Killer" in Chinese. Yazhou was arrested for "disturbing public order" and later sued by Tesla for "reputation infringements."

On November 5, 2022, 6:42 AM local time in Chaozhou, a Tesla Model Y driver, identified only as Zhan, was apparently trying to park his car in front of the cement store he runs in that city when the Model Y started accelerating. It drove for 2.6 kilometers (1.6 miles) at high speed, hitting several vehicles and killing two people, until a final crash made it stop for good. Tesla said the data in his car indicated he had the right foot on the accelerator pedal all the time. Zhan denied that, stating he kept his foot "on the brake pedal all along" until he "was on the verge of colliding with the tricycle."

On February 17, a Tesla Model 3 was out of control in Ruian. It went from near miss to near miss until it crashed the back of a bus. The driver was taken to the hospital in bad condition, and the passenger reportedly died in the crash. Apart from these cases in China, a Tesla Model 3 also experienced a similar situation on December 11, 2021, at around 9 PM in the 13e arrondissement in Paris. The crash injured 21 people and killed one. The taxi driver is suing the American BEV maker.

In all these cases, Tesla later said that the accelerator pedal was pressed instead of the brake pedals. That led Chinese Tesla owners to install cameras to film the pedals. The idea was to prevent the company from accusing them of pressing the wrong ones should they experience similar SUA incidents. The new Chinese recall may help to avoid them.

When Lakafossis discovered that Tesla vehicles brake and accelerate on their own when drivers are trying to park, he linked that to a break in the feedback loop sequence that helps us automate actions in open-loop control. Instead of preventing Autopilot from doing that, the engineer and accident investigator proposed to have Tesla include Brake Transmission Shift Interlocks (BTSIs) in its vehicles. That would demand the driver to step on the brakes to shift from drive (D) to reverse. Currently, these BEVs allow the driver to shift gears without stepping on the brake pedal.

Considering this was a voluntary recall that Tesla filed to escape the SAMR investigation, the company may have found a different way to solve SUA incidents. Instead of following Lakafossis' recommendation to use BTSI, it will allow its vehicles to select how they want to recover energy from braking and warn drivers if they press the accelerator pedal for a long time. This alert alone may help drivers realize they are stepping on the wrong pedal – hopefully in time to avoid a tragedy.

Lakafossis told me that having a creep mode as standard would probably help avoid these SUA incidents, which always happen when the involved Tesla drivers are trying to park. It would make these people aware that they need to step on the brake pedal, as they would do in any conventional automatic car. This is probably what the regenerative braking strategy will allow Tesla owners to select. Too bad if they choose the wrong regenerative mode, but at least the car will warn them that they are stepping on the accelerator instead of the brakes.

I discussed this situation with a software expert, who told me that "there is no data showing that unintended acceleration is predominantly caused by sustained pressing of the accelerator." In other words, it would be nice if what Tesla states caused the crashes could be confirmed by third parties. This specialist made a very pertinent question: "If you suspect the computer of defectively commanding acceleration, why would you trust what it tells you about the pedal position it is basing that behavior on?"

In their opinion, "there is a multi-decade history of the car companies and NHTSA blaming drivers for pressing the wrong pedal, even though their arguments are based on a case in which the car DID accelerate due to a design defect, and there have been recalls for design defects that led cars to accelerate on their own since then." Despite that, they also think using BTSIs "can help with that, and should be enforced for all vehicles."

Lakafossis told me that "this is pure speculation, probably based on the flawed theory about negative spikes." According to the accident investigator, "there is absolutely nothing that points toward this theory. It has been investigated many times, always with negative results." For Lakafossis, "it all boils down to neuroscience." "I can't think of any other possible explanation."

Let's hope that the Chinese recall solves this once and for all – and that it is applied to BEVs worldwide as well. The recall will be performed by over-the-air (OTA) updates, which makes that even more straightforward. That will work as an excuse for some people to argue it is not a recall. Still, only those more worried about their investments than about safety will ignore that any repair or update related to saving lives configures a recall. This one in China definitely fits that bill.