Sudden Accleration

[Rice&Curry]

Today while my wife was parking the car at Costco, Alamden Road, San Jose, the car suddenly accelerated and hit car parked on the opposite side with such force that it pushed out a parked Kia SUB ( Soul) out of its parking slot into the road used for parking. It was not in Auto pilot . The car is less than 1 month old. My wife said just before the accident " I am not able to stop the car". I was in the front passenger seat. My wife confirms that her foot was not on the acceleration as she had already entering the parking slot . Dashcam footage shows a sudden acceleration.
Fortunately no body was hurt. Called Tesla. they immediately responded and took the details and asked for all details and said that they have opened an investigation on this. ​

 

[BMax_V.2]

First and foremost, glad no one's injured.

Hope the investigation bring some light into this.

 

[captanzuelo]

I once experienced an uncommanded drive(like an ice car in Drive with foot off the brake) and assumed it was a glitch in the regenerative braking. Fortunately, the brake pedal worked. Did your wife say the brakes weren't working either?

 

[JohnSnowNW]

Sorry this happened. However, this exact scenario is how nearly all of the "sudden acceleration" accidents have occured.

It's going to show pedal misapplication. There are numerous threads on this here, and @wk057 has a pretty detailed write up on how it's essentially impossible for the vehicle to accelerate on its own. You can check out this entire thread, or just read post #430:

Sudden Unintended Acceleration

 

[glide]

You say her foot wasn’t on the accelerator, but was it on the brake? That should never fail to stop the vehicle.

 

[captanzuelo]

You say her foot wasn’t on the accelerator, but was it on the brake? That should never fail to stop the vehicle.

This is one of the reasons why Hold mode can be risky to use. I for one get a little nervous sometimes, in parking situations. You are close quarters to other objects, with your foot off the brake, while feathering the accelerator. One could easily see how someone with not so much finesse could accidently step on that accelerator too hard(like in the accident post linked by JohnSnow)

 

[frankvb]

This is one of the reasons why Hold mode can be risky to use. I for one get a little nervous sometimes, in parking situations. You are close quarters to other objects, with your foot off the brake, while feathering the accelerator. One could easily see how someone with not so much finesse could accidently step on that accelerator too hard(like in the accident post linked by JohnSnow)

Yes, one of the reasons I use the 'creep' setting.

 

[Altes]

Yes, one of the reasons I use the 'creep' setting.

Never had an issue and dont use "creep" mode and I live in SF with hilly parking

 

[Dennisis]

Well everything is monitored so should be pretty easy for Tesla to figure out what happened. Of course the tinfoil hat crowd won’t believe it if they don’t claim responsibility. Give the few Tesla-does-everything-wrong regulars something to chew on for a while....

 

[Elja Trum]

You can get unintended acceleration when you try to put the car in drive - twice.
The cruise control activates and start to speed up to the local speed limit.

Sometimes it takes a second for the car to actually put the car in drive after pressing the stalk.
When inpatient, you could press it twice and put it in cruise controle.

 

[Mike_TV]

It's going to show pedal misapplication.

Glad no one is injured but this is case on a lot of "unintended" or "sudden acceleration" cases. First thing I would look at is the floor mats and the type of footwear the driver was wearing.

 

[byeLT4]

Not saying this was the OP's case but for me- I drive an ICE for work and without creep on (when back in the Tesla) you have to really be paying attention. I think it is simple muscle memory. In regular cars (or with creep) you are pressing the (brake) pedal to stop, lifting to move. How many hundreds or thousands of times have we done it? With creep off it is the opposite and with the other pedal. Need to stop quickly? Press the brake harder! Oh crap, that's the accelerator.....

 

[pl8dlikafiddle]

You can get unintended acceleration when you try to put the car in drive - twice.
The cruise control activates and start to speed up to the local speed limit.

Sometimes it takes a second for the car to actually put the car in drive after pressing the stalk.
When inpatient, you could press it twice and put it in cruise controle.

Auto steer and TACC will not engage unless there are visible road lines.

 

[Barrygold]

Auto steer and TACC will not engage unless there are visible road lines.

Correct however cruise control will engage and the car will move forward without any pedal manipulation, 10mph is usually the initial setting in parking lots. I think that’s what Elja was referencing. This was my first thought of a possible cause.

 

[CyberShy]

Correct however cruise control will engage and the car will move forward without any pedal manipulation, 10mph is usually the initial setting in parking lots. I think that’s what Elja was referencing. This was my first thought of a possible cause.

Are you saying that cruise control engages even if the car is only going 5-10 mph? That’s insane. Many cars won’t engage or use the resume function unless the car is gong 25-30mph.

and if this is the case, the data will show as such, not as pedal misapplication.

and of one’s foot is on the brake, it should automatically disengage.

where’s the foot-cam video?

 

[Dangerous Fish]

TACC can engage a 5-10mph, but I've tested it and most of the time it gives me an 'autopilot unavailable" message and doesn't work.
Even if I can get it to engage at such a low speed it doesn't accelerate as quickly as it would if you stamp on the pedal. It's more like a gentle build up in speed, which would give anyone plenty of time to react and press the brake pedal.

If autopilot was being used by somebody who is used to 'one pedal driving' and has the car in hold mode all the time, I could maybe see the possibility of them coming off a main road into a car park with autopilot engaged and then the car seemingly accelerating of it's own accord, but regardless of any potential cause, the fact is that at any time the driver has the brake pedal available to them to slow/stop the car.

 

[wk057]

To OP:

(*deep breath*)

Your wife is mistaken and was pressing the accelerator pedal.

The brakes are mechanical and will always stop the car when the brake pedal is pressed.
The brakes can overpower the motors even if they somehow were at full power when trying to stop.
Repeat: The brakes are mechanical and will always stop the car when the brake pedal is pressed.
If the brakes still worked after the event, then they still would have worked during the event.
The brakes are a mechanical system.
Software can not disable the brakes.

Repeat: Your wife is mistaken and was pressing the accelerator pedal.

You can get unintended acceleration when you try to put the car in drive - twice.
The cruise control activates and start to speed up to the local speed limit.

Sometimes it takes a second for the car to actually put the car in drive after pressing the stalk.
When inpatient, you could press it twice and put it in cruise controle.

Yeah this is bogus. (Pretty sure I've noted this in another thread.)

To put the car in drive, your foot has to be on the brake.
To enable cruise control, your foot has to be off the brake.

Saying that if you "put the car in drive twice" it enables cruise control is fundamentally incompatible with reality.

Also, Tesla's don't accelerate on their own. Get over it.

Also, the logs don't lie..

 

[BlindPass]

Engineering never fails.

 

[glide]

To OP:

(*deep breath*)

Your wife is mistaken and was pressing the accelerator pedal.

The brakes are mechanical and will always stop the car when the brake pedal is pressed.
The brakes can overpower the motors even if they somehow were at full power when trying to stop.
Repeat: The brakes are mechanical and will always stop the car when the brake pedal is pressed.
If the brakes still worked after the event, then they still would have worked during the event.
The brakes are a mechanical system.
Software can not disable the brakes.

Repeat: Your wife is mistaken and was pressing the accelerator pedal.



Yeah this is bogus. (Pretty sure I've noted this in another thread.)

To put the car in drive, your foot has to be on the brake.
To enable cruise control, your foot has to be off the brake.

Saying that if you "put the car in drive twice" it enables cruise control is fundamentally incompatible with reality.

Also, Tesla's don't accelerate on their own. Get over it.

Also, the logs don't lie..

This. Brake pedal always stops the car.

If she had time to say “I am not able to stop the car”, why wasn’t her foot pressing the brake?

 

[LevelHeaded]

Most people are not traveling even 5mph when pulling into a parking space. I’ve never seen TACC enable from being completely off at speeds that slow.