Tesla employee leaks thousands of safety and privacy breach reports

Daniel Sims

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Staff
A hot potato: Tesla has endured continuous controversy regarding the safety and privacy of its electric vehicles for years. The latest condemnation of its driver assistance functionality comes from a massive leak that describes thousands of potentially dangerous incidents stemming from braking and acceleration systems.

A Tesla employee recently leaked thousands of internal documents to the German business newspaper Handelsblatt, revealing the massive scale of safety complaints the self-driving EV company has received. The incident adds to the already worrying series of safety complaints surrounding Tesla.

The 100GB trove of data consists of 23,000 internal files describing 2,400 incidents of sudden unintended acceleration and 1,500 cases concerning braking problems, leading to over 1,000 crashes. Hundreds of incidences involve Teslas suddenly decelerating or stopping in what is known as "phantom braking." Most of the incidents – between 2015 and 2022 – occurred in the US, but some come from Europe and Asia.

When the outlet followed up on the incidents, a California doctor told Handelsblatt (via Ars Technica) that her Tesla suddenly accelerated "like a racing car" into two cement pillars as she prepared to turn into a parking lot. A Swiss driver's Model S improperly hit the brakes a dozen times throughout 2021.

Another driver in Michigan was rear-ended in 2019 when his car suddenly slammed on the brakes. One Tesla in Germany drove into a median barrier after the autopilot engaged the emergency brakes. Another report describes a Model S automatically driving into oncoming traffic.

Possibly more concerning is that customers told Handelsblatt that they sensed Tesla employees tried to avoid written communication when processing complaints. The company passes technical reviews to customers orally, with rules forbidding recording them in emails, text messages, or voicemails. The California doctor said Tesla never sent emails, keeping all communication verbal.

Another significant safety incident occurred in February when problems with Tesla's self-driving systems prompted a recall of over 300,000 vehicles. In April, former employees revealed that Tesla regularly internally shares videos of customers from the vehicles' cameras, many of them extremely private.

Such reports could spread further soon due to how well Tesla's cars continue to sell. Analysts at JATO Dynamics (via Motor1.com) report that the company's Model Y became the first EV to top the world's best-selling car list in the first quarter of 2023.

The car sold 267,200 units in 53 markets around the world, up 69 percent year-over-year. The Model Y's core market remains China, where it performed well, but sales also increased 68 percent in the US, and it became Europe's top-selling vehicle overall.

The analysis attributes the strong performance to recent price cuts, which led to a record Q1 for Tesla. Further price cuts for the Model Y and other variants came last month, increasing the likelihood of continued growth. It's unclear how much the brand's technical problems impact its commercial health.

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Sigh...

"Unintended acceleration" has been proven again and again and again to have been caused by the driver pressing the wrong pedal, and has never been found to have been caused by the car itself. The article should point that out, rather than fear-mongering.
 
If only that was the only problem.

Exactly. These Tesla reports should have the technical details behind what happened at the time of the acceleration. Tesla is *VERY* quick to point out user error when necessary (like, when they get sued).

I have a Tesla: the only camera feed I can't see is the one that monitors me (right next to the rearview mirror). Behind the BS PR, the only reason they have that camera is a CYA in case an accident happens.

Not having anything in writing is always a massive, massive red flag.
 
Owners of Tesla cars are guinea pigs for testing and improving AutoPilot. At least they should be paid by Tesla a proper sum of money, and not vice-versa, like now, when Tesla drivers pay huge sum of money for renting their Tesla car options.
 
It's always the driver's fault, if the autopilot does something stupid it's the driver that turned it on, didn't pay attention and let himself be at the mercy of janky software. Autopilot is dangerous because it brings the worst in drivers, it pretends it can drive the car itself when it's not there yet. We need to encourage people to be better drivers rather than dumbing everything down, which exacerbates the problem.
 
It's always the driver's fault, if the autopilot does something stupid it's the driver that turned it on, didn't pay attention and let himself be at the mercy of janky software. Autopilot is dangerous because it brings the worst in drivers, it pretends it can drive the car itself when it's not there yet. We need to encourage people to be better drivers rather than dumbing everything down, which exacerbates the problem.

yup people using Auto pilot and sleeping behind the wheel we have already had a few darwin award winners this way.
 
Recalls and defects are prevalent in every industry.
Tesla is like many other auto manufacturers in that they play the game. They are reactive to problems and the only way they will issue a recall is to have their arms twisted by the NTSB.

There is at least one auto manufacturer out there that, IMO, does the right thing in being proactive with their recalls. Toyota. I don't know if there are others that do the right thing.

PS - I don't work for Toyota, but I do own one and had mine recalled for a similar "car accelerates" by itself. However, instead of P&Ming, Toyota issued new floor mats and took other corrective action - all without having to have their arms twisted by the NTSB.
 
If only that was the only problem.
If you were given access to any car company's data in the same way, you'd find that they all have "thousands of complaints". That fact is meaningless by itself, and indicates nothing about the comparative safety of a company's vehicles.
 
It's always the driver's fault, if the autopilot does something stupid it's the driver that turned it on, didn't pay attention and let himself be at the mercy of janky software. Autopilot is dangerous because it brings the worst in drivers, it pretends it can drive the car itself when it's not there yet. We need to encourage people to be better drivers rather than dumbing everything down, which exacerbates the problem.
It would probably help if they didn't call it "Autopilot" which implies that it can indeed drive itself.
 
TBH, I really like Teslas, and I was recently deciding if to upgrade my Prius to something smaller like Tesla Model 3 LR, but the reliability is something that is a big priority as I can't really afford to deal with unnecessary issues regarding my vehicle. I really hate wasting my time on a car - I will wash it gently, I will frequently visit my dealer for yearly service, rotate wheels regularly, but dealing with recalls and other possible software related issues? No, thank you.
Even through Model 3 LR is pretty much pitch perfect for my usage, even the smaller, saloon boot is liveable for me, I will probably go with something like Prius PHEV, that would be issue free for at least 10–15 years.

I really hope Tesla will improve their QC drastically, as I really love their powertrains and the chill mode.

But regarding the issues here, I don't believe there was a single real instance of unintended acceleration that was not caused by the user being an incompetent driver.
 
"Meanwhile, Tesla Model Y named top-selling car worldwide in Q1"

Top-Selling.... Not the Best Car...!
 
That's what happens when you have a drive-by-wire system in your car. Not just Tesla, not just electric cars, but a large number of modern cars. I like my steering wheel and pedals connected directly to the hardware.
 
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