Owner Claims Tesla Model X 'Unexpectedly Accelerated' Into a Building
A Tesla Model X owner is alleging that his all-electric SUV “unexpectedly accelerated” into a building.
There has been quite a bit of buzz surrounding Tesla vehicles that are unintentionally accelerating and getting into collisions, and this time around, this Model X crashed in Irvine, California, allegedly while pulling into a parking space. The owner, Puzant Ozbag, made a post on the official Tesla forum saying that the five-day-old Model X “unexpectedly accelerated at high speed on its own climbing over 39 feet of planters and crashing into a building.”
The collision caused the airbags to deploy, said Ozbag, who added that the accident could have been fatal had the car’s wheels not been turned slightly to the left. If the wheels were straight, Ozbag believes the Model X would have crashed into the store in front of the parking space, potentially injuring or killing patrons. Fortunately, that didn’t happen, but Ozbag and his wife suffered burn marks due to the airbag deployment.
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“The acceleration was uncontrollable, seemed maximum and the car only stopped because it hit the building and caused massive damage to the building,” Ozbag said in the post. The owner believes this is a major problem and that the American automaker should stop deliveries and investigate the cause of the crash. He is also asking anyone else who had a similar experience to email him.
We reached out to Tesla for a statement concerning the collision, but it is likely that the automaker will have detailed logs on what happened with this particular vehicle. Ozbag made no mention of Autopilot or Summon, simply saying that he was driving the car slowly into the parking space.
Update: Tesla has released the following statement in regards to the accident:
“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 6 mph when the accelerator pedal was abruptly increased to 100%. Consistent with the driver’s actions, the vehicle applied torque and accelerated as instructed. Safety is the top priority at Tesla and we engineer and build our cars with this foremost in mind.We are pleased that the driver is ok and ask our customers to exercise safe behavior when using our vehicles.”
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Jason Siu began his career in automotive journalism in 2003 with Modified Magazine, a property previously held by VerticalScope. As the West Coast Editor, he played a pivotal role while also extending his expertise to Modified Luxury & Exotics and Modified Mustangs. Beyond his editorial work, Jason authored two notable Cartech books. His tenure at AutoGuide.com saw him immersed in the daily news cycle, yet his passion for hands-on evaluation led him to focus on testing and product reviews, offering well-rounded recommendations to AutoGuide readers. Currently, as the Content Director for VerticalScope, Jason spearheads the content strategy for an array of online publications, a role that has him at the helm of ensuring quality and consistency across the board.
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Some cars like certain Subaru models have forward obstacle detection which cuts power and hits the brakes; I'm surprised that the far more expensive Tesla would either not have such, or perhaps if it did it was disabled. I obviously don't know what happened, but it is not unusual to hit the 'gas' instead of the brake pedal. Of course we only have heard a partial 'read out' of what the system recorded.
Soon as i saw this article i figured it would have been driver error. Hit the wrong pedal i bet. you can't fool a Tesla. they log EVERYTHING the driver does.