Photo: Weibo / Tesla
Tesla is highly and, some would say, controversially protective of the data it collects, only sharing it with the public in extreme cases. But Tesla can also spill the tea cups if it needs to and, when it does, you can rest assured it will be piping hot.
Last month’s 2021 Shanghai Auto brought, along with several exciting releases and intriguing concepts, a hefty dose of Tesla controversy. It started with a woman standing on top of a Model 3 display car at the Tesla booth, shouting about how her new Model 3 came with faulty brakes and caused a crash that nearly killed her and her father, who was driving at the time.
The woman was arrested and detained for five days, but her story made international headlines. Even worse (for Tesla), it drew the attention of a couple of government bodies, who urged the carmaker to improve its policy on dealing with customer complaints. This eventually forced Tesla to issue an apology for how it had handled the situation, even though, on the face of it, it had done nothing wrong.
Some days later, as backlash in China continued, Tesla released the data logs in the Model 3 crash that caused it. They confirmed there’d been no issue with braking and that the crash was due to human operation, specifically, not maintaining proper distance from the vehicle in front and speeding. Speaking strictly numbers, they showed the vehicle traveling at 118.5 kph (74 mph) before the accident, braking 40 times, and a speed 48.5 kph (30 mph) just before the impact.
Teslarati notes that, with all this, customers are growing wary of Tesla: owners are installing cameras near the brake pedal “just in case” an accident happens and they want to have proof of a malfunction, while some potential EV buyers no longer consider Tesla as an alternative. It’s typical snowball effect, but it’s made worse because the ball is rolling in a country where competition on the EV market is cutthroat and the state is deeply involved in most operations.
So Tesla is left with no other choice but to show the receipts, and it does so on Weibo. They paint a very unfavorable picture of the Model 3 owner slash protester: an owner who constantly refused to engage in productive conversations with the carmaker and who, at every step of the way, tried her best to paint Tesla in a negative light.
While Chinese authorities would say the female owner’s protest was a David vs. Goliath-type of story, Tesla is offering proof of repeated efforts to solve the problem, and how they failed. Specifically, they kept offering to pay for a third-party investigation into the supposed issue of faulty brakes, which the woman either accepted and then recanted, or flat-out denied, citing lack of trust.
She also refused to hand over the car for an in-house investigation, choosing instead to take it outside Tesla buildings or at various auto events, with banners reading “Faulty brakes.” At one point, she even hired two female models to stand beside the wrecked vehicle, in a mock-display at the Zhengzhou Dahe Auto Show.
As reported on previous occasions, the owner is asking for a full refund on the car, as well as compensation for lost wages, injuries (she was in the passenger seat at the time of the crash), and mental anguish. Her story is that she was sold a faulty vehicle that nearly killed her, and that Tesla is refusing her right in denying her the money.
Tesla’s version, which is now officially out, is that the woman’s father caused a crash and she’s trying to pin it on the carmaker, while refusing to cooperate in an investigation into what happened. Tesla isn’t saying it, but the woman’s repeated and very time- and money-consuming attempts to discredit Tesla, as well as her obstinacy in refusing to accept any other outcome than the one she suggests, could hint at a sponsored attempt at discrediting Tesla. Or so Tesla supporters believe.
Either way, it looks like the only David fighting a Goliath is Tesla, going up against local authorities and a customer base easily swayed and, to a certain extent, controlled by them.
The woman was arrested and detained for five days, but her story made international headlines. Even worse (for Tesla), it drew the attention of a couple of government bodies, who urged the carmaker to improve its policy on dealing with customer complaints. This eventually forced Tesla to issue an apology for how it had handled the situation, even though, on the face of it, it had done nothing wrong.
Some days later, as backlash in China continued, Tesla released the data logs in the Model 3 crash that caused it. They confirmed there’d been no issue with braking and that the crash was due to human operation, specifically, not maintaining proper distance from the vehicle in front and speeding. Speaking strictly numbers, they showed the vehicle traveling at 118.5 kph (74 mph) before the accident, braking 40 times, and a speed 48.5 kph (30 mph) just before the impact.
Teslarati notes that, with all this, customers are growing wary of Tesla: owners are installing cameras near the brake pedal “just in case” an accident happens and they want to have proof of a malfunction, while some potential EV buyers no longer consider Tesla as an alternative. It’s typical snowball effect, but it’s made worse because the ball is rolling in a country where competition on the EV market is cutthroat and the state is deeply involved in most operations.
So Tesla is left with no other choice but to show the receipts, and it does so on Weibo. They paint a very unfavorable picture of the Model 3 owner slash protester: an owner who constantly refused to engage in productive conversations with the carmaker and who, at every step of the way, tried her best to paint Tesla in a negative light.
While Chinese authorities would say the female owner’s protest was a David vs. Goliath-type of story, Tesla is offering proof of repeated efforts to solve the problem, and how they failed. Specifically, they kept offering to pay for a third-party investigation into the supposed issue of faulty brakes, which the woman either accepted and then recanted, or flat-out denied, citing lack of trust.
She also refused to hand over the car for an in-house investigation, choosing instead to take it outside Tesla buildings or at various auto events, with banners reading “Faulty brakes.” At one point, she even hired two female models to stand beside the wrecked vehicle, in a mock-display at the Zhengzhou Dahe Auto Show.
As reported on previous occasions, the owner is asking for a full refund on the car, as well as compensation for lost wages, injuries (she was in the passenger seat at the time of the crash), and mental anguish. Her story is that she was sold a faulty vehicle that nearly killed her, and that Tesla is refusing her right in denying her the money.
Tesla’s version, which is now officially out, is that the woman’s father caused a crash and she’s trying to pin it on the carmaker, while refusing to cooperate in an investigation into what happened. Tesla isn’t saying it, but the woman’s repeated and very time- and money-consuming attempts to discredit Tesla, as well as her obstinacy in refusing to accept any other outcome than the one she suggests, could hint at a sponsored attempt at discrediting Tesla. Or so Tesla supporters believe.
Either way, it looks like the only David fighting a Goliath is Tesla, going up against local authorities and a customer base easily swayed and, to a certain extent, controlled by them.
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