Paris Tesla crash, 1 killed 20 hurt. Driver couldn't brake.

[FourWheelDrift]

CCTV - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEjwLKE0cCQ

Taxi driver says the Tesla 3 accelerated on it's own, taxi company has suspended the use of all 37 Teslas it operated.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/paris-crash-t...

"Last year, the U.S. auto safety regulator opened a formal review into over 200 complaints about sudden acceleration of Tesla cars, but the regulator later said it found no defects in Tesla's systems, saying the accidents were caused by "pedal misapplication"."

[98elise]

Pedal misapplication sounds about right.

[NMNeil]

Not exactly a new problem is it?
https://www.cars.com/articles/toyota-recalls-2-3-m...
https://repairpal.com/recall/12V353000
https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/best-cars-blog...
https://powersportsbusiness.com/top-stories/2019/0...
https://motorbikewriter.com/triumph-recall-sticky-...

[Ouroboros]

Reminds me of the Toyota one, if no one remembers a driver made a 911 call and died on the call about the malfunction.

It was weird really because Toyota tried to shift the blame, yet was found the floor mats could get stuck, then more people died, the mechanical sticking of the accelerator pedal could cause it as well.

Drivers were blamed. Billion pound companies seem very slow to admit faults it seems, is history repeating itself? I wouldnt trust a car that can drive itself.

[Oilchange]

98elise said:

Pedal misapplication sounds about right.

Or maybe a 'watch this' moment gone wrong.

[jeff666]

Over 200 complains of sudden acceleration of Tesla cars according to the Reuters article.

Yeah they must have all got it wrong eh.

[pquinn]

Does this video have the brake lights lit while it accelerates? Seen a Chinese video where that happened, I'd dig it up but videos of Teslas crashing into stuff aren't exactly rare.

[FWIW]

Is the foot brake rendered useless in these situations?

I recently got a Model 3 and can’t imagine how this could happen…but if it did, what would I do?

Edited by FWIW on Monday 3rd January 01:09

[FWIW]

98elise said:

Pedal misapplication sounds about right.

Has to be. Perhaps the driver was used to ’one pedal driving’ and forgot what to do in the heat of the moment?

[pquinn]

FWIW said:

Is the foot brake rendered useless in these situations?

Possibly, depending on what it thought it was doing. With regen braking you don't necessarily get the pedal doing physical braking.

And as said I've seen at least one video of a Model 3 accelerating across a car park with the brake lights all lit up so they don't seem to guarantee authority of brake over throttle.

[FWIW]

pquinn said:

FWIW said:

Is the foot brake rendered useless in these situations?

Possibly, depending on what it thought it was doing. With regen braking you don't necessarily get the pedal doing physical braking.

Depends how hard you press. Is brake by wire a thing?

[FWIW]

FWIW said:

pquinn said:

FWIW said:

Is the foot brake rendered useless in these situations?

Possibly, depending on what it thought it was doing. With regen braking you don't necessarily get the pedal doing physical braking.

Depends how hard you press. Is brake by wire a thing?

I’ll answer my own question;
There is brake by wire but the brake pedal is still direct, hydraulic, and (afaik) fail safe.
Hopefully we’ll get to know the cause of these ‘accidents’.

[FWIW]

pquinn said:

Does this video have the brake lights lit while it accelerates? Seen a Chinese video where that happened, I'd dig it up but videos of Teslas crashing into stuff aren't exactly rare.

Anything to do with this?:
https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-brake-failure-apol...

[vulture1]

FWIW said:

Is the foot brake rendered useless in these situations?

I recently got a Model 3 and can’t imagine how this could happen…but if it did, what would I do?

Edited by FWIW on Monday 3rd January 01:09

Crash...


In all seriousness I can't understand how there isn't a simple mechanical handbrake that can be used and that somehow directly cuts all power for emergencies. Like pulling the level literally severes a circuit or triggers a fuse.

[RDMcG]

Do I recall the famous Audi 5000 sudden acceleration concern that almost destroyed them in the US/..........I do not think it was ever proven.

[b0rk]

FWIW said:

I’ll answer my own question;
There is brake by wire but the brake pedal is still direct, hydraulic, and (afaik) fail safe.
Hopefully we’ll get to know the cause of these ‘accidents’.

Isn't the level of assist variable tho' when the system is trying to blend regen and friction braking..

Suspect this will ultimately be a single peddle / brake feel issue with driver either pressing the wrong peddle or not pressing hard enough on the brake to force emergency friction braking. Anyway the French police have the car and data download so assume in the fullness of time exactly what the car recorded will come out. There does seem to a lot of braking issues reported with Telsa's.

[ConwyC]

Speed it was going at past the restaurant suggest he was either recklessly speeding or the car was accelerating on its own?

[dvs_dave]

RDMcG said:

Do I recall the famous Audi 5000 sudden acceleration concern that almost destroyed them in the US/..........I do not think it was ever proven.

60 minutes were found to have actually faked that one.

[untakenname]

Saw on twitter when this happened a couple of weeks back that the Model 3 was doing over 150kph at the initial point of impact when the speed limit was 30kph.

Even if it was unintended acceleration on the part of the driver considering the tech onboard is meant to be so advanced it's odd the car would let the driver do over 5x the posted speed limit.

[Ouroboros]

untakenname said:

Saw on twitter when this happened a couple of weeks back that the Model 3 was doing over 150kph at the initial point of impact when the speed limit was 30kph.

Even if it was unintended acceleration on the part of the driver considering the tech onboard is meant to be so advanced it's odd the car would let the driver do over 5x the posted speed limit.

Even with all the tech, they have still crashed.