Tesla has won a court case in China over false claims of a Model 3 suddenly accelerating and causing damage to other cars.
Due to the false claims, the owner will pay ¥50,000 (~$9,600 CAD) and provide a formal apology to Tesla on social media.
In August 2020, the Tesla Model 3 owner claimed that the vehicle randomly accelerated and the brakes did not respond. The owner was very vocal about the accident and spread his story on various social media platforms.
Although many doubted the story, it spread in both Chinese and western media. The owner’s social media posts led to numerous news articles that were negative about the reliability of Tesla vehicles.
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However, the data around the accident did not back up the owner’s claims. In May 2021, the Wenzhou Auto Engineering Society concluded that the accelerator pedal remained active and the brakes were not applied during the incident in question.
The Society took data provided by Tesla and the vehicle’s EDR to conclude these findings.
Even with these findings, the owner continued to spread false rumours in the media and on social media. The persistence of the owner led Tesla China to file a lawsuit over the false claims.
The case concluded, and the court ruled in late September as per Twitter user @ray4tesla.
LITIGATION WIN 4 TESLA CN according to court ruling on 9/20. @Teslacn filed a lawsuit in July against Model 3 owner for deliberately twisting the truth about his accident. Now he is fined 50k CNY & ordered to apologize to the plaintiff within 10 days for at least 90 days on SM. https://t.co/c5ywYCP1NW pic.twitter.com/L0vu6REjCl
— Ray (@ray4tesla) October 11, 2021
h/t: @Tesmanian
