Design flaws caused a Tesla Model 3 to suddenly accelerate out of control before it crashed into a utility pole and burst into flames, killing a woman and severely injuring her husband, a lawsuit filed in federal court alleges.
Another defect, with the door handle design, thwarted bystanders who were trying to rescue the driver, Jeff Dennis, and his wife, Wendy, from the car, according to the lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
Wendy Dennis died in the Jan. 7, 2023, crash in Tacoma, Washington. Jeff Dennis suffered severe leg burns and other injuries, according to the lawsuit.
Oh yes I agree, the acceleration without a way to limit it is crazy. At least with the EV9 I can set it to eco and not have an accidental warp speed but it’s still too much sometimes. Mine came with the boost feature enabled and no way to disable it. I refuse to allow my teenage son to learn to drive in it without a way to limit its torque. I am gonna go out and get him an old fashioned beater. EVs need a training mode that forces it to act more like a ICE car. Might get worse efficiency but it’s safer.
Perhaps an unpopular opinion but I think that the one-pedal kinda leads into this as well. You don’t remove your foot from the pedal to decelerate - in fact you keep pressure on it but less than while maintaining speed - and a twitch the wrong way makes it take off.
I am reminded that hand controls for driving are one-pedal, but they’re built backwards from the one-pedal in EVs. Push to stop, pull to start. That means that momentum pushes you into the brakes.
Wait, evs don’t have a separate brake pedal?
https://youtu.be/U0YW7x9U5TQ?t=195
They do, but many EVs offer a mode (“one-pedal mode”) in which lift-off enters regeneration mode, and it is possible to drive entirely without touching the brake pedal. I think most do a “blended brake” which means that pressing the brake partway uses regen and then pressing harder uses actual brakes.
Thanks for the info. That’s horrifying.
People can’t even drive properly with both pedals…
no, they have a brake pedal. One pedal driving just means the car slows more using regeneration and you less frequently need to brake.
they do. EVs just have regenerative braking built-in, so lifting your foot off the accelerator slows the car down considerably because the spinning of the motor is used to charge the battery. Several carmakers include various levels of regenerative braking as options.
In the Hyundai ionx 6, you can set the driving mode you prefer. Regular mode with accelerator and brake, and four different levels of regenerative braking, or a special mode that only uses one pedal.
You can also select the driving mode, so the extreme acceleration is only available if you choose “sports mode”.