The sudden acceleration incidents involving Tesla vehicles where drivers said the vehicles were “accelerating by themselves” were due to user errors, according to an NHTSA investigation.
Tesla Sudden Acceleration
Last year, we reported that the National Road Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it is investigating allegations that Tesla vehicles have a defect that leads to “sudden unexpected acceleration” after receiving a petition citing 127 alleged incidents.
As we stated at the time, several allegations of sudden unintended acceleration involving Tesla vehicles have been made public over the years. The most publicized involved a South Korean celebrity claiming that his Model X accelerated alone in his garage.
However, in all cases, including that one, Tesla stated that the car registration showed that it was a user error due to the incorrect application of the pedal, meaning that the driver pressed the accelerator instead of the brakes.
In one case, Electrek managed to get Tesla’s log to be checked by a third party and supported the automaker’s claims that it showed the driver pressed the accelerator.
Following the NHTSA investigation, Tesla issued a statement alleging that there are no defects in its vehicles resulting in unintended acceleration and that the petition with NHTSA was initiated by a TSLA short seller.
Tesla is also facing a similar investigation in China.
NHTSA Research
The NHTSA Defect Investigation Office (ODI) released the results of its investigation today, confirming that it concluded that the incidents were caused by “misapplication of the pedal” – in other words: drivers pressing the wrong pedal.
They wrote in the report:
“After reviewing the available data, ODI has not identified evidence that would support the opening of a defect investigation in SUA on the vehicles in question. In all cases where event data were available for review by ODI, evidence shows that SUA’s failures in the complaints cited by the petitioner were caused by misuse of the pedal. There is no evidence of any failure in the accelerator pedal assemblies, engine control systems or brake systems that contributed to any of the aforementioned incidents. There is no evidence of a design factor that contributes to increasing the likelihood of incorrect application of the pedal. The theory provided for a possible electronic cause of SUA in the vehicles in question is based on inaccurate assumptions about the system design and registration data. “
Here is the new full report:
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