"Breaking Bad" - Daily articles now hitting the news wires

[GolanB]

It seems almost every day in the news that a Tesla owner is claiming unintended acceleration and faulting Tesla. I just read another one: San Jose Woman Claims New Tesla Auto-Accelerated Into Garage.

The owner says she tried reaching out to Tesla for over a week before going to the press with her story. In every case I am aware of that Tesla has investigated, they came back stating that the vehicle operated as expected. This owner is looking at up to $100,000 in damages and may have a motive for wanting to fault another party.

Given the number of these stories recently, Tesla might want to consider a rapid response process before these get out of hand. There are many cases of drivers either confusing the pedals, or accidentally hitting the wrong ones, and the media seems to love giving Tesla the spotlight, especially if its a mother with children, or an expecting mom. Clearly an emotional play.

Twitter users, by and large, hit back, but most people reading this article online probably won't bother with the facts. Maria Medina KPIX5 on Twitter

 

[Joshan]

so if the owner is lying about the car accelrating, why do you believe her that she tried for a week to reach Tesla?

 

[SigNC]

people get very surprised about how quickly the car responds to accelerator input. I myself did it once and I consider myself very in tune to accelerator modulation from racing.

 

[mcars]

It's a lot easier to try and say "the car did it" and try and get something out of it than to take fault. Many people don't want to tell their spouses or insurance of it. The very existing of a self drive feature leaves it open to so many to blame someone other than themselves, which is escalating at an alarming rate.

 

[jasondlr]

people get very surprised about how quickly the car responds to accelerator input. I myself did it once and I consider myself very in tune to accelerator modulation from racing.

this

 

[5_+JqckQttqck]

She was probably distracted trying to activate home link and push the wrong pedal and slammed into her garage.

Neither wife or husband looked into the camera... tell tail signs of lying

 

[mact3333]

If Im being honest , there seems to way too many of these stories now to discount as just someone accidentally hitting the accelerator .. abit concerning

I think we Tesla owners have a lot of incentive to not believe these stories but it’s abit concerning to me anyway.

 

[5_+JqckQttqck]

If Im being honest , there seems to way too many of these stories now to discount as just someone accidentally hitting the accelerator .. abit concerning

I think we Tesla owners have a lot of incentive to not believe these stories but it’s abit concerning to me anyway.

30k kms and never has the brake pedal accelerated the car. People who aren't good drivers are given the quickest accelerating car on the market. Murphy's law, *sugar* happens if it's possible.

 

[MTSN]

Audi 5000 all over again

 

[Wampa]

It's not a coincidence that most of these "unintended acceleration" and "out-of-control" Tesla stories are within the "victim's" first week of ownership.

 

[NathanielHrnblwr]

Maybe chill mode should be default for new cars. People can hunt in the menu and turn it off when they finally get comfortable with their car.

 

[posity]

Love the quote from her: "I’m not a bad driver. I’m a safe driver”: spoken by every clueless driver that ever existed...

My guess is that the frequency of these claims is a function of the number of Teslas now on the market. The more you sell, the wider breadth of people that will be exposed to your product, and the ever-reliable Gaussian distribution says you will get a certain number of customers that are clueless, or dishonest, or both. So simply by virtue of their popularity, we'll see more and more of these stories, whether they have any basis in fact or not.

 

[Tron 3]

Driver error is the biggest factor in auto fatalities, across the US the number on average is equivalent to a 747 crashing each week, but when a single Tesla is in an accident its all over the news.
The fact that Tesla has the benefit of vehicle logs I imagine shields them from claims like these.

 

[Tam]

...the media seems to love giving Tesla the spotlight, especially if its a mother with children, or an expecting mom. Clearly an emotional play...

I can't fault the media in this case because it was the driver who reached out to the TV and not Tesla.

It was the driver who invited the TV to her home, and not Tesla who invited TV to the factory.

 

[Bill Foster]

Don't believe any of it. They hit the wrong pedal.


In this day, people are very quick to shift blame to anyone but themselves.

But thats a whole nother discussion

 

[Joshan]

I can't fault the media in this case because it was the driver who reached out to the TV and not Tesla.

It was the driver who invited the TV to her home, and not Tesla who invited TV to the factory.

Journalists also have a duty to verify stories when possible and not just rtry to be first at all costs. This is one of the reasons people distrust the media and say Fake News. There is supposed to be ethics in reporting if you call yourself a journalist.

 

[thaian207]

it's very common for people to hit the wrong pedal especially nowadays that everyone mastered multitasking. Both my mother and a very close friend both hit their garage door within a few months apart. One was a brand new toyota rav4, according to my dad around 2k to replace the garage door. The other was an old Honda Accord, we still make fun of her until this day. Most people will always blame others for their mistakes, it's sad but that's life.

 

[woodisgood]

For many first-time Tesla owners, it’s also their first EV and exposure to one-pedal driving. You get trained into your foot spending most of the time on or over the accelerator since most braking is accomplished by letting off.

I can think of several people I know who would probably have an unintended acceleration event upon getting a Tesla. Some elderly, others just kind of non-natural drivers.

 

[Bill Foster]

Journalists also have a duty to verify stories when possible and not just rtry to be first at all costs. This is one of the reasons people distrust the media and say Fake News. There is supposed to be ethics in reporting if you call yourself a journalist.

Unfortunately thats long gone, replaced by clickbait news reporting

 

[Joshan]

Unfortunately thats long gone, replaced by clickbait news reporting

This is not some no name website, It is a TV Station from a major network.