A few days ago, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says it is reviewing a petition that claims every Tesla Model S, Model X, and Model 3 sold in America since 2013 is defective and should be recalled. At the moment when it became known, all the media considered it their duty to disseminate this information without checking all the necessary facts.
The NHTSA began considering this issue because 127 people signed a petition stating that unintended acceleration caused 110 accidents resulting in 52 injuries.
According to the New York Times, on January 17, NHTSA released a redacted version of the petition that said, “Tesla vehicles experience unintended acceleration at rates far exceeding other cars on the roads.” It went on to urge NHTSA “to recall all Model S, Model X and Model 3 vehicles produced from 2013 to the present.”
This story was originally published on CNBC and it was mentioned in this article that the person who created the petition is Tesla [TSLA] short seller. It is strange that this detail didn't alert anyone.
Journalists who cover Tesla or financial news know that about 20% of Tesla's shares are in the hands of short sellers. They are also well aware of the fact that short salers of the company's shares are constantly playing a dishonest and dirty game against Tesla, not neglecting the use of lies and false statements about the company and its CEO Elon Musk.
We all know that over the past 6 months the company's shares have been growing in price, which makes even the toughest critics of Tesla change their opinion about the company for the better. For several consecutive months, short salers have suffered multibillion-dollar losses. That is why, every negative news about Tesla that is being published now should be considered much more closely, because the interested parties have a very strong interest in lowering the price of Tesla's shares.
Tesla released an official statement today that clarifies the whole situation.
There is no “unintended acceleration” in Tesla vehicles
The Tesla Team January 20, 2020
This petition is completely false and was brought by a Tesla short-seller. We investigate every single incident where the driver alleges to us that their vehicle accelerated contrary to their input, and in every case where we had the vehicle's data, we confirmed that the car operated as designed. In other words, the car accelerates if, and only if, the driver told it to do so, and it slows or stops when the driver applies the brake.
While accidents caused by a mistaken press of the accelerator pedal have been alleged for nearly every make/model of vehicle on the road, the accelerator pedals in Model S, X and 3 vehicles have two independent position sensors, and if there is any error, the system defaults to cut off motor torque. Likewise, applying the brake pedal simultaneously with the accelerator pedal will override the accelerator pedal input and cut off motor torque, and regardless of the torque, sustained braking will stop the car. Unique to Tesla, we also use the Autopilot sensor suite to help distinguish potential pedal misapplications and cut torque to mitigate or prevent accidents when we’re confident the driver’s input was unintentional. Each system is independent and records data, so we can examine exactly what happened.
We are transparent with NHTSA, and routinely review customer complaints of unintended acceleration with them. Over the past several years, we discussed with NHTSA the majority of the complaints alleged in the petition. In every case we reviewed with them, the data proved the vehicle functioned properly.
Unfortunately, the legislation, in this context, works only in one direction. Any information that is distributed by the Mr. Musk is considered under the scrutiny of the relevant authorities and structures. But when it comes to the fact that pseudo-journalists, media, short sellers and haters of Tesla, disseminate deliberately false information, this remains without due attention.
Don't forget that before making any conclusions, we must have all the information. Therefore, I urge you to always strive to search for the truth and not believe in loud headlines, without first having received all the necessary information.
About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
