Photo: via Jérôme Coumet
On December 11, 2021, a taxi driver from Paris was driving his family back home after dinner at a restaurant when something bad happened. The Tesla Model 3 hit 21 people, a glass recycling bin, rental bikes, and metal posts. To the police, the driver said his EV suddenly accelerated. Now, he is suing Tesla for what happened.
Sarah Saldmann represents the yet unidentified taxi driver. On Friday, she filed a lawsuit against the American EV maker at the Versailles court, stating that Tesla had “endangered the lives of others.” That means that the taxi driver is blaming the company for what happened.
At the time, Jérôme Coumet tweeted that a “technical failure caused the crash.” The mayor of the 13e arrondissement – where the incident took place – said that “the accelerator (pedal) would have stuck.” The taxi driver said his car had accelerated on its own. Blood tests indicate that he did not have alcohol in his bloodstream.
Despite that, he is being investigated for manslaughter. Of the 21 people his Model 3 hit, one died, three were seriously injured, and 17 got hurt due to the crash. We have no information on how the affected people are doing three months after the incident.
We tried to contact Saldmann right when the crash was first reported. We asked her about the circumstances of the wreck and what her client had said. It was important because that could give us some clues on what the cause was.
SUA (sudden unintended acceleration) episodes would not be possible with Tesla vehicles. According to Jason Hughes, aka Tesla Hacker, the company created software safeguards that ensured that. However, we don’t know if they depend on sensors and other components to work. We recently discovered that Tesla removed an electronic control unit from its vehicles made in China. That sort of strategy may have safety impacts.
Another possibility is that the TACC (traffic-aware cruise control) was accidentally turned on. If the previously set speed is much higher than the one the EV is using when the system is activated, the car accelerates. That makes it look like an SUA episode. The Chinese government forced Tesla to add a sound warning whenever TACC is triggered.
By suing Tesla, the taxi driver and his attorney have two clear goals: exempt him from responsibility and put the EV maker in the defendant’s chair as the part that is really to blame. Reuters tried to learn which pieces of evidence Saldmann obtained to base her lawsuit, but the lawyer comprehensively did not want to disclose anything about that.
Official investigation results are also yet to be released. With the lawsuit, it would not surprise us if they will be revealed just when the judgment occurs. For that to happen, Versailles prosecutors will have to decide if the lawsuit has enough elements to make Tesla defend itself in court.
At the time, Jérôme Coumet tweeted that a “technical failure caused the crash.” The mayor of the 13e arrondissement – where the incident took place – said that “the accelerator (pedal) would have stuck.” The taxi driver said his car had accelerated on its own. Blood tests indicate that he did not have alcohol in his bloodstream.
Despite that, he is being investigated for manslaughter. Of the 21 people his Model 3 hit, one died, three were seriously injured, and 17 got hurt due to the crash. We have no information on how the affected people are doing three months after the incident.
We tried to contact Saldmann right when the crash was first reported. We asked her about the circumstances of the wreck and what her client had said. It was important because that could give us some clues on what the cause was.
SUA (sudden unintended acceleration) episodes would not be possible with Tesla vehicles. According to Jason Hughes, aka Tesla Hacker, the company created software safeguards that ensured that. However, we don’t know if they depend on sensors and other components to work. We recently discovered that Tesla removed an electronic control unit from its vehicles made in China. That sort of strategy may have safety impacts.
Another possibility is that the TACC (traffic-aware cruise control) was accidentally turned on. If the previously set speed is much higher than the one the EV is using when the system is activated, the car accelerates. That makes it look like an SUA episode. The Chinese government forced Tesla to add a sound warning whenever TACC is triggered.
By suing Tesla, the taxi driver and his attorney have two clear goals: exempt him from responsibility and put the EV maker in the defendant’s chair as the part that is really to blame. Reuters tried to learn which pieces of evidence Saldmann obtained to base her lawsuit, but the lawyer comprehensively did not want to disclose anything about that.
Official investigation results are also yet to be released. With the lawsuit, it would not surprise us if they will be revealed just when the judgment occurs. For that to happen, Versailles prosecutors will have to decide if the lawsuit has enough elements to make Tesla defend itself in court.
Google News