Tesla has faced several reports of sudden unintended acceleration (SUA) episodes. After Jason Hughes – the Tesla Hacker – swore that they are not possible in the company’s EVs, another explanation for that emerged: it would be caused by the traffic-aware cruise control (TACC) getting accidentally engaged. A new incident with the system shows it may also be hard to turn off, and there’s a video to show what happens.
The footage was recorded by Daniel Brown, who shared it on a Reddit thread with more information. Although it is a dangerous procedure, the Tesla owner said he wanted to show what happened to ask other Reddit users if they had experienced similar issues.
The Tesla owner described that the infotainment screen in his Model 3 froze. Considering that it is the only screen available in the car, that would already be dangerous enough: many safety features in the vehicle are controlled through that screen. The solution would be just to reset the computer, which he tried and did not manage to pull off. The frozen screen was not his only concern: Brown also experienced a stuck TACC at 72 mph.
In the video, he showed that nothing he did made any difference in disengaging the system. He would step on the brakes and slow the car down, but it would immediately accelerate again to the set speed. Although he could not verify how fast he was going due to the frozen screen, pressing the brakes should disengage TACC and bring the vehicle to a stop. Brown said that it didn’t.
The Tesla owner also pressed the accelerator pedal and moved faster in an attempt to make TACC turn off. However, the car kept moving, probably at the 72 mph (116 kph) Brown set up before the glitch occurred.
Apart from the usual Tesla investors and fans that tried to blame him or dismiss the defect, other Reddit users urged him to report the fault to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Some others said they had similar problems.
The Reddit user goodatburningtoast said they are facing the problem every day and hope a new over-the-air (OTA) update can fix that. The user Creepy-Present-2562 said he experienced the defect precisely after an update. He gave an excellent example of the danger a frozen screen represents: it was raining, late at night, and he was taking his pregnant wife to a hospital. This Tesla owner could not activate the windshield wipers.
Brown opened a ticket with Tesla to try to solve the issue but got no response so far. Some Reddit commenters advised him not to drive the car while this is not solved. They also urged him not to record videos while driving anymore. As useful as it was to demonstrate what happened, we hope he listens to both pieces of advice.
H/T to Humphrey Bwayo on this one. Thank you, mate!
Google News