The NHTSA received a motor vehicle defect petition to recall all Tesla vehicles due to sudden unintended acceleration. The agency’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) is evaluating the allegations in the petition, which was submitted by Brian Sparks, an independent investor.
In the petition, Sparks filed the petition after learning about the experience of a woman who was driving her brand new 2019 Tesla Model 3 when the vehicle’s electrical system failed and accelerated suddenly. The incident happened twice last summer.
During the first incident, the woman regained control of the vehicle but she was badly shaken. She informed Tesla about it and requested an immediate service appointment. However, the company scheduled an appointment several weeks later.
As a result, the woman experienced another incident of unintended acceleration of her Model 3. During the second incident, the vehicle’s sudden acceleration caused a “four-car crashed that injured two people.”
Her story prompted Sparks to conduct a research and found over a hundred similar stories from Tesla vehicle owners on the NHTSA website and news coverage. He then filed the petition to the agency.
