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
Remote video URL

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.”

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Comments

Anonymous

This is not the future bruh!

06/07/2016 - 13:01 |
1 | 1
iCypher(Joel Chan)

What a idiot… Sigh None of us are happy about this, particularly Elon Musk… Crashes car, blames it on Autopilot I know Autopilot isn’t so advanced that it can tell if you’re going to crash, but I’m pretty sure not even Autopilot would want to steer you into a wall.

06/07/2016 - 13:06 |
0 | 0
Psimoes

OF COURSE IT HAD TO BE FKNG AMERICANS ,WOW AND IT HAD TO CRASH INTO A SHOPPING MALL JUST TO BRING MORE ATENTION,USA GROW UP

06/07/2016 - 13:10 |
2 | 6
Dillon McDannel

In reply to by Psimoes

I’m sure the same thing could’ve happened in any other country. Not all of us do things like that.

06/07/2016 - 13:28 |
4 | 3

YOU STUPID. AMERICAN OR NOT DEST MATER TELSA IS AMERICAN ALL YOU HERE AND SEE IT is NOT TRUE GOD I SWER NO OFFICENCE SOME BRITSH PEOPLE THINK THERE BETER THAN EVERBODY.

06/07/2016 - 14:31 |
2 | 3
Mr.PurpleV12

She has a lot of Xplaining to do…..

Eheheh hehe

06/07/2016 - 13:15 |
85 | 1

I see what u did there xd

06/07/2016 - 13:43 |
2 | 2
Anonymous

To the people who might wonder why i hate autopilot,this is why.

06/07/2016 - 13:53 |
0 | 3
Alex P

Riiiigght… it had NOTHING to do with the car controlling itself…

06/07/2016 - 13:57 |
0 | 2
Anonymous
06/07/2016 - 13:59 |
3 | 1
Gurminder Bains

Well that must have been an electrifying experience!

06/07/2016 - 14:13 |
4 | 2
TheBrownNeighbour

Well, it was going to happen sooner or later. The world is full of imbeciles.

In other news, why can’t people record cellphone videos in landscape yet? It’s bloody 2016.

06/07/2016 - 14:16 |
15 | 0

Because they have bigger phones now and it is easier to hold it portrait than landscape.

06/07/2016 - 15:45 |
6 | 4
Anonymous

erm… it might only be me, but i really don’t like the fact that tesla is monitoring everything on their cars. They might even end up pressing charges for speeding and stuff whenever an accident happens.
Remember, by the time I buy it, it is my car, not tesla’s car anymore.

06/07/2016 - 14:23 |
2 | 5
Juwan Jamison

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Every car made today has the same monitoring systems

06/07/2016 - 14:46 |
1 | 0
RK360

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

If they hadn’t installed it can you imagine all the money they’d be paying for all the dumb people blaming everything on autopilot? I’m glad they did install it. There should just be a law that says you can’t give tickets based on car logs, only if the person was actually caught by a speed camera or the police

06/07/2016 - 15:45 |
2 | 1