I read about that incident before even the whole Shanghai protest. The lady that complained presented no evidence that the braking system failed and refuses a independent third party investigation into her car. She insists on a full refund plus other compensation.
However, the police report said the cause of the accident was improper following distance:
"Zhang’s father was the driver at the time of the car accident. According to the traffic police collision report issued that night, Ms. Zhang’s father failed to keep a safe distance from the other vehicles and was deemed to be fully at fault for the accident."
Tesla Responds to Braking System Failure Controversy in China Amid Social Media Frenzy - Pandaily
I also saw that video (the full one). The car was able to stop in the first try in the video (note they may have tried many times before, which they did not record). The second try in the video the guy listened to the lady and lifted his foot off the brakes two times to "pump the brakes" before applying full braking force and that was when they hit the wall.
Found a link to a Chinese site that should be visible in China too:
特斯拉再度回应"海南碰撞事故":刹车系统合格
From the videos I watched related to it, others have not reproduced the same problem. It seems however lifting your foot off the brakes would increase the stopping distance even if the system was functioning normally, and that can make a huge difference in the conditions they tested (wet gravel road at a short distance).
None of the videos I saw testing the Model 3 braking afterwards show the actual measured stopping distance between the two different methods. That should answer more of the question. I did do another search right now and this video does compare the different stopping distances.
The article linked to a video that you may not be able to watch if you are in China, but you can perhaps find the same video under a different video service with the title: 老司机试车:特斯拉真的刹不住吗?
See MIC Tesla Model 3 Braking Tests In China
50-0 km/h dry roads:
- 14:56 - 7.39 m
- 14:56 - 7.25 m
- 14:57 - 7.31 m
- 14:57 - 6.78 m
Best: 6.78 m
Worst: 7.39 m
50-0 km/h wet sandy roads (like in the original video):
- 14:20 - 14.93 m
- 14:22 - 15.34 m
- 14:29 - 17.35 m
- 14:30 - 18.22 m
50-0 km/h wet sandy roads with incorrect braking ("pumping the brakes", they say "点刹" in the subtitles):
- 14:54 - 25.06 m
- 14:22 - 24.11 m
- 14:29 - 28.01 m
- 14:30 - 22.3 m
That adds 4 to 13 m to the braking distance, which totally can mean the difference between stopping in time and crashing into the wall!
I just got a 2021 Model 3 SR+ right at the last day of 2020 and have not personally experienced any braking problems. Newer Tesla's no longer even allow you to adjust the regen braking (it is always full power), so I have set the car to "hold mode" so that it comes to a stop by itself if I let off the accelerator pedal. So I rarely have to use the brake pedal myself in most driving. However, when I do, the braking power is plenty