Update: Tesla has reviewed the logs around the time of the accident and it shows that the Model X driver hit the accelerator, Autopilot didn’t crash in building on its own

Following a recent few accidents involving Tesla’s Autopilot, mainly one with the ‘Summon’ feature and another one involving ‘TACC’ (two features of the Autopilot systems), the automaker’s semi-autonomous system has been under scrutiny, and it looks like this latest accident is not going to help its cause.

A Model X owner claims that his week old SUV accelerated on its own in a parking lot and autonomously crashed into a building at high-speed in Irvine, California.

Tesla Model X owner, Puzant Ozbag, posted his story on the Tesla forum this weekend:

Our 5 day old Tesla X today while entering a parking stall suddenly and unexpectedly accelerated at high speed on its own climbing over 39 feet of planters and crashing into a building. The airbags deployed and my wife’s arms have burn marks as a consequence. This could have easily been a fatal accident if the car’s wheels were not turned slightly to the left. If they were straight, it would have gone over the planters and crashed into the store in front of the parking stall and injured or killed the patrons

He shared a few pictures of the aftermath of the accident:

The driver added that the acceleration was ‘uncontrollable’ during the incident and that it seemed to be accelerating at ‘maximum speed’. He said that the car only stopped because it hit the building.

The circumstances of the accident are more peculiar than the previous two mentioned above. It sounds like his vehicle wasn’t completely parked, therefore not using the ‘Summon’ feature, and going into a parking space, therefore not on Autopilot. Nonetheless, his claim that the vehicle accelerated on its own will likely be linked to the Autopilot even though there’s no evidence that the feature was in use during the crash.

Puzant says that he contacted his delivery specialist and that he was referred to Tesla’s roadside assistance service.

In his post just hours after the accident, he made some odd statements, including that Tesla should immediately stop Model X deliveries and he prompted anyone with a similar experience to contact him directly.

Is it really a system failure or classic case of using the wrong pedal and panicking?

We contacted both Puzant and Tesla to get more information about this strange accident and will we update when we have more.

Update: Tesla has reviewed the logs around the time of the accident and it shows that the Model X driver hit the accelerator, Autopilot didn’t crash in building on its own

Pictures: all pictures by Puzant hosted on Imgur

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