Photo: Tesla
Ever since the late 2000s horror story about Toyota cars accelerating on their own because of a faulty design of the accelerator pedal, people have been on their toes so as to not be taken by surprise once again. So when “unintended acceleration” got placed right next to the Tesla name, people were bound to jump out of their seats.
A petition, which comprises 127 complaints on unintended acceleration in Tesla cars, was recently filed with the NHTSA calling for an investigation into the matter. The paper was submitted by Tesla investor Brian Sparks, and points to this issue being the cause of 110 crashes and 52 injuries over the years, according to CNBC.
Because Tesla is particularly sensitive when it comes to its investors and what they say in public, especially ones shorting the company’s stock, as Sparks admitted is doing, it wasn’t long until an official statement was made public by the carmaker.
Tesla admits it has received over the years reports of incidents blamed on unintended acceleration, and has investigated each and every one of them, finding the cars 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.”
It wouldn’t work any other way because there are two independent position sensors on the accelerator pedals in Tesla cars, and should either one read an error, “the system defaults to cut off motor torque.” The same happens when the accelerator and brake pedals are pressed at the same time.
As an extra redundancy, the Autopilot has the capability to “distinguish potential pedal misapplications and cut torque to mitigate or prevent accidents when we’re confident the driver’s input was unintentional.”
Hence, concludes Tesla, Sparks’ allegations are "completely false and were brought by a Tesla short-seller."
Because Tesla is particularly sensitive when it comes to its investors and what they say in public, especially ones shorting the company’s stock, as Sparks admitted is doing, it wasn’t long until an official statement was made public by the carmaker.
Tesla admits it has received over the years reports of incidents blamed on unintended acceleration, and has investigated each and every one of them, finding the cars 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.”
It wouldn’t work any other way because there are two independent position sensors on the accelerator pedals in Tesla cars, and should either one read an error, “the system defaults to cut off motor torque.” The same happens when the accelerator and brake pedals are pressed at the same time.
As an extra redundancy, the Autopilot has the capability to “distinguish potential pedal misapplications and cut torque to mitigate or prevent accidents when we’re confident the driver’s input was unintentional.”
Hence, concludes Tesla, Sparks’ allegations are "completely false and were brought by a Tesla short-seller."
Google News