Elon Musk’s Tesla has called claims that its vehicles suffer from sudden unintended acceleration (SUA) “completely false.”
CNBC reports that electric car manufacturer Tesla has completely denied claims that the company’s vehicles are having issues with sudden unintended acceleration. The company’s statements come shortly after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced recently that it would review a petition asking the administration to investigate 500,000 Tesla vehicles over reports that the cars can suddenly accelerate randomly. The petition requested the review of the 2012 through 2019 model year Tesla Model S, 2016 through 2019 Tesla Model X, and 2018 through 2019 Tesla Model 3 vehicles.
Tesla has now stated that it has previously discussed “the majority of the complaints alleged in the petition” with NHTSA. The company said in a statement:
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.
The petition to the NHTSA was submitted by the independent investor Brian Sparks, who told CNBC on Monday: “I am encouraged by Tesla’s commitment to continue cooperating with NHTSA, and I expect we will learn shortly why Tesla owners report unintended acceleration much more frequently than owners of other vehicles.”
The petition requests the investigation of “127 consumer complaints to NHTSA involving 123 unique vehicles. The reports include 110 crashes and 52 injuries.” Some reports claim that their Tesla vehicle suddenly and unintentionally accelerates when attempting to park in garages or at a curb.
The driver of a 2015 Tesla Model S 85D in California claimed in one report that his vehicle was closed and locked when “a few moments later the vehicle started accelerating forward towards the street and crashed into a parked car.” Another Tesla driver in Avondale, Pennsylvania, claimed that while pulling into a parking spot at an elementary school, their car unintentionally accelerated and “went over a curb and into a chain link fence.”
A Tesla driver in Andover, Massachusetts claimed that she was approaching her garage door “when the car suddenly lurched forward” and “went through the garage door destroying two garage doors.”
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com