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Unexpected acceleration: Tesla rejects allegations as “completely wrong”

The US electric car manufacturer Tesla has allegations that its models have accelerated unexpectedly in more than 100 cases than “totally wrong” rejected. In a blog post, the company wrote that in all cases in which vehicle data had been evaluated, the proper functioning of the vehicle had been confirmed. The background to the contribution is a petition with the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that is currently being examined.

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  1. Technical University of Darmstadt, Darmstadt
  2. Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund, Berlin

The petition points to more than 100 incidents where Tesla S, X and 3 models are said to have accelerated unexpectedly. This acceleration could lead to accidents and injuries, according to the announcement by the traffic safety authority on January 13, 2020 (PDF). The relevant petition was received by the NHTSA on December 19, 2019 and referred to 127 user complaints about 123 vehicles. The incidents resulted in 110 accidents with 52 injuries.

Share price almost tripled

According to Tesla, the petition was submitted by a so-called shortseller. This could be an attempt to benefit from a falling Tesla share price. The share price has risen by around 180 percent to just under EUR 460 since June 2019, as Tesla has apparently got a grip on its production problems. According to financial analysts, shortsellers lost $ 2.9 billion in Tesla stock trading last year. Last week, there were further high losses in the billions. However, since the high of January 14, 2020 at 481.25 euros, the price has dropped again by almost 5 percent.

According to Tesla, operating errors must have been present in the cases examined. “The car only accelerates when the driver tells it to, and it slows down or stops when the driver applies the brakes.”, it says in the blog post. In addition, in almost all car models, cases were known in which the accelerator pedal had been operated incorrectly.

Every complaint will be examined

According to the article, the position of the accelerator pedal is not only monitored with two sensors. In addition, the sensors of the driver assistance systems would also be used to detect unintentional driver inputs and to prevent accidents by reducing the torque.

Every customer complaint about an unintentional acceleration is routinely examined together with the NHTSA. “Over the past few years we have discussed with the NHTSA the majority of the complaints alleged in the petition. In any case that has been reviewed with it, the data has shown that the vehicle is working properly”, Tesla concludes.

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