Sudden Unintended Acceleration

[Ying]

1/18/2018, morning 9:05 AM.

I was pulling in to my office parking spot where I parked for 6 years, I let the car slow to roll closer in front of the curb. All of a sudden the car accelerated, got on the curb, hit the office building. The car was still going until I applied the brake. The acceleration point was right before the curb, measuring from the point to the wall is only 7 feet. Tesla said I was on the pedal for a second long, I applied pedal from 0-18%, and quickly applied the brake. If I applied the pedal, I would not be able to apply my brake in a split second. Tesla refused to provide the force given to the pedal and any telegraphy. Tesla said they will not be responsible for any damage and said it is driver's error. I told my car was only 6 week new, I no longer feel safe to drive this vehicle, I request to return the car. Tesla refused. Tesla claimed there is no parts failure and refused to do any failure analysis without even looking at the car and accident pictures.

Tow truck driver told me I was the second brand new Model S he towed the same week. The other lady had the same problem SUA and the car ran into her laundry room, broke the drywall.

What can I do at this point?

 

[CinRedMan]

How freaking scary. This represents one of the many concerns I have with respect to my car and the underlying technology. You mention "Tesla", but elaborate with respect to whom at Tesla; just their role. Service manager? Risk management, Support?

My recommendation, maintain a level of professionalism, be tenacious and keep copious notes regarding all interactions with Tesla personal regarding the matter.

 

[eye.surgeon]

Unintended acceleration cases are almost universally determined to be user error. This is especially so with Teslas. Telemetry doesn't lie. You hit the gas pedal then the brake. You want to argue with a computer?

 

[steve841]

IMO ... if SUA were a problem, there'd be more widespread reports. Millions of miles on the Teslas and most publicized issues turned out to be owner error backed up by logs. (Do I trust Tesla's version of the logs - another story).

Not gonna claim you are in error, just with no data to support your claim, then there's no real way to fight.

You can always file a complaint with NTHSA ....

 

[jelloslug]

You messed up. Sorry that you wrecked your new car but the facts don't lie.

 

[Tam]

Each year there are about 16,000 cases like yours:

Feds blame driver error for 16,000 annual unintended acceleration cases

The famous Toyota acceleration craze turned out to be driver's error in applying the wrong pedal as investigated by NTHSA and NASA.

Toyota’s Recall Crisis: What Have We Learned?

 

[whitex]

Ever since manufacturers started using computers to record things like accelerator position, it turns out that there are a lot more incidents where drivers have pressed the accelerator even though they are 100% convinced they didn't (so they are no lying, they are just remembering incorrectly). I had a conversation with a Lexus mechanic 5 or 6 years ago who told me how surprisingly often people bring in cars of "unintended acceleration" caused by hitting the gas instead of the brake or "stall" caused by mashing both accelerator and brake at the same time (even on the highway). Not all ended up with any damage, but people still brought the cars for service our of concern.

 

[DOCAL]

Unintended acceleration cases are almost universally determined to be user error. This is especially so with Teslas. Telemetry doesn't lie. You hit the gas pedal then the brake. You want to argue with a computer?

I think at this point Tesla needs to put a camera in the footwell of the car. People always claim they did nothing wrong, Tesla can show that they did from the pedal sensors, but the driver isn't going to believe that, they'll just claim the sensors were wrong (despite there being 2 that read in opposite directions). Seeing footage that shows that they stomped on the wrong pedal might convince them.

 

[Chopr147]

First post, again some complaint about acceleration or AP etc,etc,etc..............
Getting old now.
Do I believe you? Not sure. But I do believe you may/may not remember pressing accelerator when you meant to hit the brakes. Sometimes I forget if I ordered something on Amazon (Christmas was crazy) so I check my account. Ooops, already ordered it. The computer does not lie

 

[Chaserr]

It's probably related to why some people choose to turn on creep and some don't. If your driving experience is with auto transmissions, the lack of creep might lead to a confusion of where your right foot is at right now.

Also, I too noticed that once again someone joins the forum solely to post a doomsday scenario failure in their car with a story about how it's widespread despite none of us experiencing it.

 

[scottm]

I am sorry that you unintentionally accelerated into a wall.

But it's better than intentionally accelerating into it.

So you can feel good about at least that much!

 

[luckyj]

Haha, that's what I was thinking. Unintentional means you still did it!

Uncommanded acceleration would be bad.

 

[scottm]

It's probably related to why some people choose to turn on creep and some don't. If your driving experience is with auto transmissions, the lack of creep might lead to a confusion of where your right foot is at right now.

Also, I too noticed that once again someone joins the forum solely to post a doomsday scenario failure in their car with a story about how it's widespread despite none of us experiencing it.

+1 on the creep idea.

Creep should maybe default as "on" when cars are first delivered and stays on for first 500 or so, then becomes an option to slide off.

Double-down: maybe chill mode should also default on... same idea becomes available option to turn off after 500. Or maybe the initial delivered chill "thaws" slow and automatically over time... eventually uncorking what the car is meant to be, so when you reach 500 on the odo, you're good to go.

Tesla can "save the customer's face" by claiming it to be a "manufacturer's break-in period" instead of a consumer protection / nanny thing. And a little pop-up reminder if you tromp on the go pedal before 500 is reached, to explain why your car isn't going fast yet.

 

[scottm]

1/18/2018, morning 9:05 AM.

I was pulling in to my office parking spot where I parked for 6 years, I let the car slow to roll closer in front of the curb. All of a sudden the car accelerated, got on the curb, hit the office building. The car was still going until I applied the brake. The acceleration point was right before the curb, measuring from the point to the wall is only 7 feet. Tesla said I was on the pedal for a second long, I applied pedal from 0-18%, and quickly applied the brake. If I applied the pedal, I would not be able to apply my brake in a split second. Tesla refused to provide the force given to the pedal and any telegraphy. Tesla said they will not be responsible for any damage and said it is driver's error. I told my car was only 6 week new, I no longer feel safe to drive this vehicle, I request to return the car. Tesla refused. Tesla claimed there is no parts failure and refused to do any failure analysis without even looking at the car and accident pictures.

Tow truck driver told me I was the second brand new Model S he towed the same week. The other lady had the same problem SUA and the car ran into her laundry room, broke the drywall.

What can I do at this point?

You can take pictures (or it didn't happen).

Also take a picture of the ODO to show mileage to show you're a new customer.

Post it all up as a right of entry and introduction of yourself to the forum.

Then you don't have to do anything.. but get the repairs done.

 

[jlewisthe3rd]

Sorry for the accident, I hope you and any passengers are ok....I've never had unintentional acceleration luckily.

The good news is that you only have 1 post and you chose a great day to post this, as Tesla is in the news for an accident that NTHSA is investigating, followed by a Model 3 hitting a light pole...#metoo

 

[Evoforce]

I find it is very easy to engage cruise control when I am trying to instead put on the turn signal. The steering wheel conceals the levers and they are not easy to see. It can get exciting when that mistake is made. I haven't crashed with that mistake but I can see how others have. I have also had my big foot on both the brake and accelerator pedal at the same time. If you are not fast at correcting those mistakes when you do them, it could easily mean a crash.

 

[DriveMe]

I let the car slow to roll closer in front of the curb. All of a sudden the car accelerated, got on the curb, hit the office building. The car was still going until I applied the brake. The acceleration point was right before the curb...

So based on that, here is what I think has happened. Correct me if I am wrong.
Your foot was on the accelerator, barely touching it. The car has reached the curb a moment sooner than you expected and it suddenly jumped up as the wheels hit the curb. That resulted in an extra pressure on the accelerator pedal (essentially the pedal pushed your foot up). Hence the sudden acceleration. I think your description is mostly accurate, except that the acceleration point was not before but right at the moment when the wheels hit the curb. It might even be hard for you to tell the sequence of events as it was all almost instantaneous.
Sorry for your trouble! I hope you have an insurance!

 

[Az_Rael]

But I do believe you may/may not remember pressing accelerator when you meant to hit the brakes.

I can imagine this is easy to not remember, especially if it results in a crash. In my recent (not my fault) accident, the police asked me if I had applied my brakes. I honestly had no idea. I thought I might have lifted my foot off the accelerator. But even that recollection was mostly guess. I did remember every detail about the other car's actions, which I verified afterwards on my dash cam, so it wasn't that I forgot everything, but my brain was hyper-focused on only a few things during the event, and my feet weren't one of them.

 

[mal_tsla]

The first time someone gets in an accident that would've been preventable if the driver had been able to accelerate fully out of harms way, we'll be having the opposite conversation about defaults and nanny intro periods.

As long as cars need to be driven by humans, they'll be accidentally manuvered into other objects.

The fact is the brake is more than capable of stopping the car within a foot or two from parking speeds. Unless the brakes have failed, there's no way the car can accelerate if the driver is applying the brakes. If you want to stop, press the brake pedal. If you accidentally press the wrong pedal, don't blame the car.

 

[Yggdrasill]

The problem with Tesla is that the cars accelerate so massively. If you make a mistake there's no time to correct it before you're embedded in a wall.

Unfortunately, there's no easy solution. Maybe except only buying slow cars with massive turbo lag.