Zhang Yazhou was sitting in the passenger seat of her Tesla Model 3 when she said she heard her father’s panicked voice: The brakes don’t work! Approaching a red light, her father swerved around two cars before plowing into an SUV and a sedan and crashing into a large concrete barrier.
Stunned, Zhang gazed at the deflating airbag in front of her. She could never have imagined what was to come: Tesla sued her for defamation for complaining publicly about the car’s brakes — and won. A Chinese court ordered Zhang to pay more than $23,000 in damages and publicly apologize to the $1.1 trillion company.
Zhang is not the only one to find herself in the crosshairs of Tesla, which is led by Elon Musk, among the richest men in the world and a self-described “ free speech absolutist.” Over the last four years, Tesla has sued at least six car owners in China who had sudden vehicle malfunctions, quality complaints or accidents they claimed were caused by mechanical failures.
“Independent” “third party” seems unlikely, she made the right call. No brake company wants to be on the bad side of a major auto manufacturer.
Okay, but what are your expectations when you refuse to let an OEM look at the vehicle after an accident, refuse 3rd party testing, and then go around disrupting events and stores making claims you can’t back up and refuse to let anyone to verify?
Why didn’t Tesla present its telemetry data? They are the ones suing so the burden of proof is on them.
She refused access to the car, that level of data probably needs access. Its very low level stuff like dual independent voltages read by the brakes as the pedal is depressed. 100% though it WAS there if they had access to the vehicle.
It also might not even be possible if data sharing is off or without consent.