Model X Crash Details Emerge: Tesla Claims Human Error, Owner Says Otherwise

It’s a good ol’ fashioned case of he said/his electric carmaker said.

Yesterday, we all puzzled over the case of the California man who claimed his brand spankin’ new Tesla Model X went Maximum Overdrive and attempted to turn a store into a drive-thru.

In response to media scrutiny, Tesla Motors reviewed the vehicle’s electronic log (isn’t data collection great?), and now says the finger of blame points squarely at the driver, not at a vehicle malfunction.

In a statement sent to Elektrek, a Tesla spokesperson said:

“We analyzed the vehicle logs which confirm that this Model X was operating correctly under manual control and was never in Autopilot or cruise control at the time of the incident or in the minutes before. Data shows that the vehicle was traveling at 6 mph when the accelerator pedal was abruptly increased to 100%. Consistent with the driver’s actions, the vehicle applied torque and accelerated as instructed.”

The vehicle’s owner, Puzant Ozbag, claimed his five-day-old vehicle took off on its own while it was being parked. In response to Tesla’s statement, Ozbag revealed he wasn’t behind the wheel during the crash — his wife was driving at the time.

Despite Tesla’s claims, he’s not backing down from his view that an electronic glitch depressed the vehicle’s accelerator pedal, stating in a letter to Elektrek, “(My wife) knows the difference between brake and accelerator pedal.”

Well, if Tesla truly is sitting on a pile of electronic evidence sourced from his vehicle, it will be pretty easy for the automaker to avoid any blame in what now seems to be a human error-caused crash. Apparently, Tesla’s logs show the difference between human inputs and computer-actuated inputs, so suffice it to say there’s no beads of sweat forming on Elon Musk’s forehead.

No, that sweat is reserved for getting the Model 3 off the drawing board and into production in a timely manner.

[Images: Puzant/ imgur]