The Anyang "brake failure" incident has not yet been conclusive, and Tesla and the owner of the car have a war of words
Wen | Qi Zhanning
Editor| Wang Jingyi
▲Photo courtesy of the interviewee
At 9:00 a.m. on December 24, Tesla Motors argued that the woman sued Tesla and its vice president Tao Lin for a dispute over the right to reputation was heard at the Beiguan District People's Court in Anyang City, Henan Province, and the trial ended at about 4 p.m.
Ms. Zhang told The TravelIng Passenger (ID: carcaijing) that today is a public trial, which is going well, and the prosecution and defense have presented evidence, cross-examined each other, and also debated the focus of the dispute. Ms. Zhang's lawyer, Fu Jian, told Travel Yike (ID: carcaijing) that the court will announce the judgment at a later date, and it is not yet possible to judge the result, and believes that the court will make a fair judgment.
During the Shanghai Auto Show in April this year, Ms. Zhang wore a T-shirt printed with the slogan "Brake Failure" to tesla booths to defend her rights, and a series of Tesla responses followed aroused widespread public concern.
On May 6, Ms. Zhang filed a civil complaint with the Beiguan District People's Court of Anyang City, arguing that some of the remarks of Tesla and Tesla Vice President of External Affairs Tao Lin infringed on her right to reputation, and demanded that the legal responsibilities of relevant personnel be investigated in accordance with the law, and claimed 50,000 yuan in moral damages from Tesla.
At the same time, Tesla also countersued Ms. Zhang for violating her right to reputation. On August 14, Ms. Zhang received a pre-litigation mediation opinion inquiry from the Qingpu District People's Court in Shanghai, and Tesla demanded that she apologize and compensate 5 million yuan for the loss of the right to reputation.
In response to the trial on December 24, Tesla's public relations personnel told Travel Yike (ID: carcaijing) that Tesla will abide by the law and follow the corresponding process.
Due to the auto show rights protection incident, the two sides sued each other for reputation infringement
Ms. Zhang's allegations of Tesla's infringement of the right to reputation were made in an exclusive interview with Tesla's vice president of foreign affairs after the roof rights protection incident at the Shanghai Auto Show in April this year.
Some of Tao Lin's views, such as "the recent negatives are all contributed by her (referring to the plaintiff)", "only willing to pay high compensation", "I must insist on high compensation", "I think she is very professional, there should be (people) behind her", etc., which caused Ms. Zhang's dissatisfaction.
Ms. Zhang said that without any evidence, some of the false statements released by Tesla and Tao Lin, tesla's vice president of external affairs, have had a serious impact on her personal and family's work life.
On February 21 this year, Ms. Zhang's father drove a Tesla Model 3 in a rear-end accident on The 341 National Highway in Anyang, and her parents were injured and hospitalized. Ms. Zhang believes that the accident was caused by a brake failure of tesla vehicles.
After several rights defenses, at the Shanghai Auto Show on April 19, Ms. Zhang wore a T-shirt with the slogan "Brake Failure" and stood on a Tesla Model 3 to defend her rights, after which Ms. Zhang was administratively detained for five days.
In order to verify whether the brakes failed at the time of the incident, Ms. Zhang asked Tesla to provide complete driving data before the incident, and Tesla provided driving data for half an hour before the accident on April 22, but the data was considered by Ms. Zhang to be missing key parameters such as brake pedal displacement and motor torque.
Tesla replied to Ms. Zhang that the data related to the accident has been presented, and the law does not clearly stipulate that Tesla must provide more.
"Tesla has not yet provided the data I requested, and it is estimated that it will take a long judicial process to provide it." Ms. Zhang said.
As of this writing, no official findings have been made public about the accident.
Ms. Zhang told a passenger (ID: carcaijing) that in July this year, she had submitted materials to the court regarding the failure of the brakes, but due to the issue of the court's jurisdiction, there has been no progress, and "there will be a notice in the two days of whether the case will be filed or not."
In August this year, Ms. Zhang submitted written materials to the State Administration for Market Regulation to investigate the brake failure incident, and received a reply saying that "the case has been filed", but due to the complexity of the case, it will take longer to have feedback.
In addition, Tesla also countersued Ms. Zhang for violating her right to reputation. On August 14, Ms. Zhang received a pre-litigation mediation opinion inquiry from the Qingpu District People's Court in Shanghai, and Tesla demanded that she apologize and compensate 5 million yuan for the loss of the right to reputation.
Tesla sued the owner for defamation infringement three times a year
According to the incomplete statistics of a travel passenger (ID: carcaijing), tesla has been involved in legal disputes with the owner three times this year.
Not long ago, tesla owner Han Chao v. Tesla fraud case of the second-instance trial results were released.
On December 19, Han Chao published a judgment on social media platforms, and the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court upheld the first-instance judgment, that is, supported the car owner's claim to refund the purchase price and obtain triple compensation, and ruled that Tesla should refund the car purchase price of 379,700 yuan to the owner and compensate 1,139,100 yuan.
On June 5, 2019, Han Chao purchased a pair of Model S officially certified used cars through Tesla's official channels, and Tesla promised that the vehicles were not accident cars. However, within two months after the purchase of the car, the vehicle broke down several times, and Han Chao sought testing from a third-party appraisal agency, and the vehicle was judged to be an accident car.
Despite the court ruling in favor of the owner's claim, Tesla sued Han Chao, demanding an apology and a claim of 5 million yuan.
On June 9, 2021, Tesla sued Wenzhou owner Chen Mou for maliciously slandering Tesla and the "Tesla" brand vehicles produced by Tesla, and demanded up to 500,000 yuan in tort damages.
On August 12, 2020, a Wenzhou car owner, Chen Mou, drove a Model 3 at high speed and crashed into the interceptor pole of the residential parking lot, overturning after colliding with multiple vehicles. The owner also claimed that the brake failure of the vehicle was caused, but the "Appraisal Opinion" issued by the Wenzhou Society of Automotive Engineering pointed out that the owner did not step on the brake at that time, but used the throttle as a brake.
In October this year, the Lucheng District People's Court of Wenzhou City found that the accident was caused by the improper operation of the owner, Chen needed to apologize to Tesla on the Douyin platform, which lasted for no less than 90 days, and Chen needed to pay 50,000 yuan in compensation to Tesla. However, Chen immediately said on social media that he would appeal.
▲Source car quality network
Rights protection incidents seem to be only accidental, and the data of the car quality network of the car consumer complaint acceptance and disposal service platform shows that the number of complaints about Tesla Model 3 has been in single digits this year.
"Judging from its monthly complaint performance in the past year, the number of complaints has remained in single digits, but as the market ownership continues to increase, some fault problems have also emerged, resulting in a slight deterioration in monthly complaint performance compared with the same period last year." But overall, Tesla Model 3's short-term quality reputation performance is still worth affirming. The car quality network research institute analyzed.
The controversial rights protection incidents from time to time have not affected Tesla's sales in China.
According to public data, Tesla Model Y and Model 3 achieved sales of 26,800 and 26,100 units in China in November this year, an increase of 5% and -10% month-on-month, ranking first among pure electric new energy vehicle companies, nearly 3,000 more than saic-GM-Wuling, which ranked second.
From January to November this year, the Model Y and Model 3 models sold 413,300 units in China, an increase of 264% over the same period last year, and Tesla's sales ranked first among pure electric new energy vehicle companies.