A Tesla Model 3 that was totalled after crashing at a West Vancouver ferry terminal earlier this year was a case of driver error, and not sudden unintended acceleration (SUA).
There have been many claims of SUA in Tesla vehicles over the years, with two making headlines just this week. As we reported a former Revel driver is suing Tesla because he says the Model Y he was driving “suddenly and automatically” accelerated, while the driver of a Model Y taxi in Norway that crashed last weekend has also claimed something was wrong with the car.
In all cases however the data has shown it was actually pedal misapplication, in which the driver presses the accelerator instead of the brake pedal, and that is exactly what happened in West Vancouver in January, according to the West Vancouver Police Department.
“Following an analysis of the vehicle data, the investigators determined the collision to be human-caused,” West Vancouver Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Mark McLean said on Saturday.
As a result of the findings, the 68-year old driver was issued a ticket for driving without due care and attention.
Critics of Tesla continue to claim of a problem with SUA in their vehicles, but the automaker has provided more than enough evidence to the NHTSA to clear their name. The safety agency looked into over 200 claims of SUA, but found no problems with their vehicles. Tesla even wrote a blog post titled “There is no ‘sudden unintended acceleration’ back in 2020 dedicated to rebuking the claims, but that hasn’t stopped SUA from reappearing time and time again.
