‘Tesla’ Crash: Driver Blames ‘Tesla,’ Data Indicates Otherwise

A recent car crash involving a “Tesla Model X” made headlines because of the driver’s claim that it was caused by the car. “Tesla” is disputing the claim, though, and they have the car’s data to prove it.

According to The Verge, the driver in question is Puzant Ozbag and he is saying that the “Tesla Model X” that his wife was driving suddenly accelerated instead of stopping when she stepped on the brake. As a result, the car hit the wall of a shopping center. Ozbag was on the passenger side at the time of the crash.

The “Tesla Model X” certainly has semi-autonomous capability via cruise control and automatic lane shifting. However, the company is saying that the data does not support the car owner’s claim since at no time during the crash were any of the autonomous features turned on.

The car was not in its semi-autonomous mode before, during or after the crash happened, nor was cruise control in effect. What the data does show however is that the accelerator was activated to 100 percent prior to the crash; indicating that instead of the brakes, the wife likely stepped on the accelerator.

Speaking to Computerworld, the owner responded to Tesla’s answer by saying that his wife was not that old.

"My wife is 45 years old and has had a driver's license almost 30 years and has a clean record,” Ozbag said. “It's not like she's a 90-year-old person who's going to press the gas pedal instead of the brake."

Even so, Ozbag only has his word to back his story while the car maker has the vehicle’s driving data to prove that he is wrong. When it comes right down to it, human error is most often the cause of car accidents. It also doesn’t help his case that, as The Washington Post noted in their article, the “Model X” has redundant sensors that monitor and check the commands given to the accelerator.