A tesla model x was able to be started and shifted into gear by a 2 year old who was then able to drive the vehicle forward and pin his pregnant mother between the vehicle and garage wall. Apparently there are no safety-interlocks preventing starting of the engine, such as transmission in 'p' or 'n'. Further, there is a wand shifter, but gear selection is completely under software control. There is no interlock such as with a traditional prndl selector. This is an inherently unsafe design. Civil docket describing the accident and tesla's response are attached. Note in tesla's response: 1) they do not state how many minutes elapsed between driver exiting the vehicle and toddler entering it. They use the vague term "moments." it could well have been 10 or 15 minutes. 2) they claim it is not reasonably foreseeable that a child would manage to shift a vehicle into gear, which is patently false. Safe vehicle design absolutely includes consideration of unsupervised children playing at the controls.
2018 Tesla Model X brakes complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 14 of 14, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Essentially new car purchased 3 months ago with less than 5000 miles on it. Car failed while driving at high speed on highway and could not put in park, car was struck in drive mode. Tons of errors and safety issues. Parking brake failed. Airbag and ABS systems failed. This car failed one month prior also with safety issues at high speed and tesla said they fixed it but clearly not.
When slowly pulling into a parking spot, the car accelerated on it's own jumping the curb and slammed into a chain link fence. I pressed the brake pedal but it didn't respond. My ten year old child was in the back seat and thankfully we are both unharmed. This is the second incident of the car accelerating on it's own. The first time this occurred was during my first week with the car and when I was slowly driving around a traffic circle in a residential area and the car took off on it's own. No damage other than misalignment that time but I was very scared and called tesla service. It took several weeks for them to respond with the data report from the car and said that the vehicle increased speed due to the driver pressing the accelerator. I accepted their explanation and assumed that I was indeed at fault even though I was positive that I didn't press the accelerator. I'm incredibly saddened by this situation as I truly loved this car but I'm too frightened to drive it again. It's currently at a body shop.
Tl* the contact owns a 2018 tesla model x. While pulling into a parking space, the brake pedal was depressed but the vehicle inadvertently accelerated over a curb before crashing into a cement light pole. The front end of the vehicle was severely damaged, and the air bags did not deploy. The driver sustained neck, shoulder, and chest injuries that required medical attention. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to a tow yard. On several occasions, prior to the failure, an erroneous warning message displayed while driving, indicating that the vehicle was driving too closely to the preceding vehicle, even though another vehicle was nowhere in the vicinity. The contact indicated that the failure occurred on multiple occasions, including shortly before the crash. The manufacturer was notified of the failures. The local dealer was not contacted for diagnostic testing or repairs. The failure mileage was 1,500.
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