Someone Drove Their Tesla Model X Into A Building And Tried To Blame Autopilot

Tesla has quashed claims that Autopilot caused a Model X to accelerate into a building, blaming driver error instead

07 Jun 2016

What you’re looking at here is the aftermath of a hefty Tesla Model X crash in Irvine, California. The owner - whose wife was driving at the time - took to the Tesla Forum to claim the car ‘autonomously’ accelerated without warning, running over a load of plants before smashing into a building.

However, in a statement to Electrek, Tesla pinned the blame entirely upon the driver:

“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 6mph when the accelerator pedal was abruptly increased to 100 per cent.”

To sum up, it seems the driver mashed her foot down on the accelerator pedal, presumably mistaking it for the brake. ‘Unintended acceleration’ it’s usually called, and it’s quite common. We can only assume in this case the driver figured the presence of Tesla’s Autopilot gave the perfect opportunity to try and shift the blame elsewhere, onto a system which is still in its infancy and in the process of proving itself.

Despite the damning evidence shown in the driver logs, the car’s owner seems determined to stick to the original story, telling Electrek:

“My wife is a 45-year-old woman with a great driving record…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.”

Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.

Comments

Well that didn’t take long…

I worked for an insurance company briefly, most common phrase on a form was “I swerved to avoid an (insert animal).

That’s going to change…

What if someone actually did swerve?

I swerved to avoid a insect

At least the rear doors are OK

Its not a big crash but why would every single airbag popped up? It is expensive to replace all of them instead of only the front two airbags.. Manufacturers trying to screw people up be like..

When you get the bill from the dealer for replacing the airbags and you be like

So, the kids that might be in the back seat, don’t get an airbag???

Well you dont know how big the crash was, perhaps it was in ludicrous mode and accelerated to 30 mph or something :D

Well then someone’s a moron

Was this the first Model X crashed then?

Jeremy is that you?

How could you mistake the gas for the brake?! But let’s say you did… Rough day, not concentrating enough…

If you have a reaction time better than a dead sloth, you’d immediately take your foot off the gas pedal and step on the brake. What idiot stomps the gas and watches their car accelerate and crash into something and does nothing?! I’m sorry, but the car owner’s wife is to blame. End of story!

It’s times like this I’m glad people are working on autonomous cars. So less idiots crash into us petrolheads.

Then again, the 0-60 time on an X is ridiculously low. Probably was at the building before she fully depressed the pedal.

You’d think you’d take your foot off of the pedal but your brain does weird things with stuff like that. If you’re pressing what you think is the brake pedal (but is actually the accelerator) with your left foot and the car accelerates, the first thing your brain tells you is to press it harder as you still think its the brake. Its similar to the reaction people get when they try left foot braking for the first time

Over here we call it panic/whiskey throttle. I’ve mashed the pedal on accident, immediately took my foot off to switch to the brake and I just mashed the gas again. Luckily I hit a snow bank and caused no damage… I was also 13 at the time and it was my grandfathers brand new Ford Fusion. (I was moving it to shovel the driveway)