Thread by @maxrdlb

#twitterfiles #autopilot - Chapter 1: Accounts of more than 1000 accidents

"My autopilot almost killed me on a route I drive repeatedly."

The tables with customer complaints likely originate from Tesla's "Toolbox System". The car manufacturer refers to this software in an internal presentation as "the main communication channel" between service and other departments.

In Toolbox, Tesla employees not only collect reported incidents. They also document diagnostic and repair processes there.

Every list of complaints carries a number in the file name, which stands for a specific problem. 27973 is the code for "customer claims there was an unintended acceleration", 55538 for "automatic emergency brake triggered for unknown reasons".

26977 stands for "customer reports collision/accident/crash" and 29034 means: "inquiries from authorities (e.g., police, law enforcement agencies, legal representatives, prosecutors)".

The Tesla files contain more than 2400 complaints about self-accelerations and more than 1500 problems with brake functions, including 139 cases of unintended emergency braking and 383 reported phantom braking due to false collision warnings. The number of crashes is over 1000.

A table of incidents with driver assistance systems where customers expressed safety concerns has more than 3000 entries.

The oldest complaints available to the Handelsblatt date back to 2015, the most recent from March 2022. During this period, Tesla delivered around 2.6 million vehicles equipped with autopilot software.

Most incidents occurred in the US, but there are also complaints from Europe and Asia in the documents - including many from German Tesla drivers.

Handelsblatt has contacted dozens of customers from several countries. All confirmed the information from the Tesla files. In conversations, they gave insights into their experiences with the autopilot.

Some revealed their communication with the US car manufacturer, others showed Handelsblatt reporters videos of the accident.

A doctor from California, for example, who wishes to remain anonymous, told the Handelsblatt about an incident from the fall of 2021. She wanted to make a U-turn in a parking lot when her Tesla suddenly accelerated like a race car.

"I tried to steer, but I crashed into a cement bollard," the customer recalls. "It fell over, but the car didn't stop. I drove into the next bollard. The airbag went off, and I was completely stunned."

Swiss citizen Thomas Karl complained to Tesla about a dozen false braking incidents with his vehicle between January and October 2021. Karl had been a regular customer for ten years already. However, his new Model S made him nervous, as evidenced by the email traffic with Tesla.

"Good day, gentlemen, do you believe me that I'm slowly losing my nerves?" Karl wrote on July 26, 2021, about another incident. His Tesla had performed a full brake on the Swiss A3 "after overtaking a vehicle, that it gets scary".

Manfred Schon reportedly experienced something similar on the M14 highway. The former Bosch employee was on his way to a meeting in Michigan on June 1, 2019, when his Tesla "suddenly braked hard, as hard as one can imagine,"

Schon told Handelsblatt. "I was pressed into the seatbelt, and the car nearly came to a halt. Then another car hit me from behind."

The Tesla files contain similar cases in Germany. One customer complains that his Tesla drove "into a central barrier on the highway". The reason was the autopilot's full brake. Another reported to customer service about his Model S: "Drives into oncoming traffic."

Tesla did not respond to Handelsblatt's questions about complaints regarding the autopilot and possible dangers to the lives and health of customers.