Drivers themselves are to blame for sudden accelerations of Tesla electric cars, the US Department of Transportation decided
The US Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) completed a year-long investigation into complaints from drivers of spontaneous acceleration of some Tesla vehicles, noting that there was insufficient evidence to initiate a full investigation.
Although there were many complaints about this defect – the NHTSA received 246 complaints about the phenomenon of ” sudden spontaneous acceleration “, the agency said that the reason in each case for which it was analyzed was ” incorrect pedal pressing “, in other words, the reason was a mistake user.
” There is no evidence of any faults in the accelerator pedal, engine management systems or braking systems that would contribute to any of the incidents mentioned,” the agency said in a report released Friday. ” There is also no evidence that a design factor affects pedal misuse .”
Allegations of so-called ” sudden, unintended acceleration ” have plagued Tesla for years. In 2018, the company settled most of the alleged class action lawsuit in this matter.
The review was initiated in January 2020 in response to a ” defect appeal ” by investor Brian Sparks. He has collected more than 100 complaints about the matter, which have already been filed with the NHTSA, as well as similar events reported in the press, and asked the agency to investigate. Sparks expressed confidence that this is a structural defect that the company should be aware of, but, despite this, does not react in any way. At the same time, commenting on the NHTSA conclusion on Friday, he said that he believed him, although there are much more complaints about the unintentional acceleration of Tesla cars than about cars from other manufacturers.
