Another Tesla customer has claimed that the vehicle's semi-autonomous driving system drove the car into an obstacle. And, yet again, Tesla has refuted the allegations after the logs show it was the driver's actions that caused the crash.
This weekend, a Tesla Model X owner going by the name of Puzant Ozbag posted on the Tesla forums that his 5-day-old vehicle inexplicably accelerated at high speed on its own while entering a parking stall. It climbed "over 39 feet of planters," before crashing into a building.
He claimed that his wife suffered burns to her arms when the Tesla's airbags deployed, and that if the car's wheels were not slightly turned to the left, it would have crashed through a nearby store, injuring or killing patrons.
The owner showed some post-accident pictures of the vehicle, adding that the damage to the car and building was so severe because it accelerated at "maximum speed." He added that Tesla should immediately stop Model X deliveries, and urged other Tesla owners who had experienced anything similar to contact him.
However, much like the case of the Model S that allegedly drove itself into a semi-trailer last month, Tesla has refuted the claims after analyzing the vehicle's logs.
In a statement to Electrek, Tesla put the blame firmly on the driver's actions.
We analyzed the vehicle logs which confirm that this Model X was operating correctly under manual control and was never in Autopilot or cruise control at the time of the incident or in the minutes before. Data shows that the vehicle was traveling at 6 mph when the accelerator pedal was abruptly increased to 100%. Consistent with the driver's actions, the vehicle applied torque and accelerated as instructed. Safety is the top priority at Tesla and we engineer and build our cars with this foremost in mind. We are pleased that the driver is ok and ask our customers to exercise safe behavior when using our vehicles.
The car's owner, who says his wife was behind the wheel at the time, continues to insist it was the Model X's autonomous systems that caused the crash.
My wife is a 45-year-old woman with a great driving record. Not and incapacitated driver. She has been going to that center for over 20 years and parking in the same stalls hundreds of times.
She knows the difference between brake and accelerator pedal. I am waiting to hear from Tesla whether the accelerator pedal can be depressed by the car electronically similar to gas-powered cars' pedal being depressed on their own while in cruise control.
What's next for the car's owner is unclear. But it seems that as self-driving features appears in more vehicles, an increasing number of drivers are blaming the technology when accidents happen.