In what could be a first, Tesla has reportedly publicly released the data logs from a customer’s vehicle involved in a crash that led the owner to protest at Tesla’s booth at the Shanghai Motor Show.
Earlier this week, we reported on a Tesla owner protesting at the automaker’s booth at the Shanghai Motor show.
She jumped on a display car to claim that Tesla’s “brakes are not working.”
The owner was eventually dragged out of the booth and reportedly put in “police detention,” but not before the event was filmed and posted to social media.
Tesla ended up posting a response to the event on its Chinese social media that started trending for being perceived as “cocky” by the public, according to Chinese media.
The automaker ended up issuing a statement apologizing for not addressing the customer’s complaint in a timely manner, and said it would conduct a self-inspection of its service and operations in China.
Now through that review, we are earning more about the accident that led the owner to protest.
When Tesla owners have blamed crashes on Tesla vehicles in the past, the automaker has been quick to pull data logs to try to explain what happened during the crash.
However, Tesla has always only shared its own explanation of the data logs to the public and the owners.
Many owners involved in crashes have requested their own data logs, but the automaker has prevented the release of the data in almost all cases that we have reviewed.
The company was criticized for that practice a few years ago and issued this statement regarding the situation:
“Autopilot has been shown to save lives and reduce accident rates, and we believe it is important that the public have a factual understanding of our technology. In unusual cases in which claims have already been made publicly about our vehicles by customers, authorities or other individuals, we have released information based on the data to either corroborate or disprove these claims. The privacy of our customers is extremely important and something we take very seriously, and in such cases, Tesla discloses only the minimum amount of information necessary.”
In one example, Tesla’s interpretation of the data logs in an accident was confirmed by a hacker who obtained the logs from the salvaged vehicle involved in the crash.
Now for what is likely the first time, Tesla is reportedly actually releasing the data logs for the accident that happened in China.
China Market Supervision News says that Tesla sent them the data logs of the crash with an explanation of the event.
A company representative told the publication that they have reached out to the customer with the information, but that they haven’t received a response and now allowed the publication to release the logs.
Here’s Tesla’s explanation according to China Market Supervision News (translated from Chinese):
“When the driver stepped on the brake pedal for the last time, the data showed that the speed of the vehicle was 118.5 kilometers per hour. Within 2.7 seconds after the driver stepped on the brake pedal, the maximum brake master cylinder pressure was only 45.9 bar. After that, the driver increased the stepping on the brake pedal, and the brake master cylinder pressure reached 92.7 bar. The front collision warning and automatic emergency braking function were activated (the maximum brake master cylinder pressure reached 140.7bar) and played a role, reducing the amplitude of the collision. 1.8 seconds after the ABS was applied, the system recorded the occurrence of the collision. After the driver stepped on the brake pedal, the vehicle speed continued to decrease, and before the collision, the vehicle speed was reduced to 48.5 kilometers per hour.”
Here’s a screenshot of the data logs that Tesla reportedly shared with the publication:
As you can see, it includes timestamps of roughly six seconds before the crash, the VIN number of the Tesla vehicle involved, the speed of the vehicle, driver input, and the pressure being applied to the brake pedal.
Based on Tesla’s explanation, the driver applied pressure to the brake pedal to avoid the crash, but not enough pressure was applied and the automatic emergency brake kicked in to reduce the force of the crash.
However, the logs as seen above don’t seem to differentiate the pressure applied by the driver or the intervention of the automatic emergency brake.
Tesla also reportedly said that they are willing to share data from 30 minutes before the crash to a third party determined by the customer insurance company or any government agency.
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Author: Fred Lambert
Source: Electrek
