Tesla Slams Defective Acceleration Accusation, Calls It ‘Completely False’

Tesla released a statement following a petition filed against its alleged faulty acceleration issue. The company slammed the claims filed in the petition and addressed the petitioner a ‘Tesla short-seller.’

According to a CNBC report, an independent investor, Brian Sparks, filed a petition to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and its Office of Defects Investigations. In the petition, there are 127 complaints of unintended acceleration of Tesla’s electric cars. Moreover, the damaged acceleration may have caused 52 injuries and 110 crashes.

“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,” the Tesla team said in a statement.

The company stressed that the vehicle would only accelerate if the driver told it to do so and it stops or slows when the driver presses 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,” the team stated.

Moreover, Tesla claimed that the Autopilot sensor suite in the electric vehicle helps distinguish any pedal mishandling and cut torque to reduce or prevent accidents when the system is aware that the driver’s input was accidental. According to the company, each Autopilot sensor suite is unique and records data which is later studied by the engineers for improvement.

In the statement, Tesla maintainED that they are transparent with NHTSA and review any customer complaints of faulty acceleration on a regular basis.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk spoke about short sellers ruining the company’s reputation. He told The New York Times that short sellers are trying too hard to push a narrative that can result in Tesla’s downfall.