Model S Crashes Into Gym - Driver Blames Autopilot, Tesla Says Otherwise

Back in June, we reported on a peculiar accident in Irvine, California, where a Tesla Model X suddenly accelerated in a parking and ended up crashing into a building. Fortunately, no one was injured during the event. What was particularly interesting about the accident is that the driver claimed the vehicle accelerated on its own. Tesla reviewed the logs and claimed that the accelerator pedal was pressed.

Now we learn of another extremely similar accident that happened in Florida last month, but with a Tesla Model S instead of a Model X and it was caught on camera this time.

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TheSteve - 9/26/2016 12:12:13 PM

0 Boost

OMG! First Audi, then Toyota, and now Tesla... it's "unintended acceleration"* all over again!!!
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*English translation: Driver error -- he hit the accelerator when he thought he was standing on the brake pedal.

MDarringer - 9/27/2016 9:00:30 AM

+1 Boost

More than likely she was texting when she mistook the accelerate pedal for the brake.

carloslassiter - 9/26/2016 1:40:10 PM

+1 Boost

It seems like a car plows into a building about once a week where I live, and after years of watching news stories on this one thing is for sure:

The driver always insists it was not his fault.

nguyenvuminh - 9/26/2016 2:03:50 PM

+2 Boost

Agree, TheSteve. Human body reflex is to stretch both arms and/or stretch both legs out as a self-bracing motion before crashing so it's reasonable if not likely that the driver did this; ie pressing the accelerator and not knowing it.

SanJoseDriver - 9/26/2016 8:59:11 PM

-1 Boost

Nice try, but you can't even activate Autopilot in a frickin parking lot. This was definitely user error.

“Tesla’s cars do not accelerate without the driver instructing it to do so. In every situation where we have received a customer claim about this, the vehicle’s diagnostic logs have confirmed that the acceleration was the result of the driver pressing the accelerator pedal.”

Also in the article:
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there are approximately 16,000 crashes occurring each year in the US due to drivers mistaking the accelerator for the brake pedal.