Irvine man claims in suit that his Tesla unexpectedly accelerated

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BangBros said:
I work in the software, computer, IT industry.  Not to be an a$$hat but trust me when I say this.  The data log is most likely encrypted or encoded.  It's just like hard drives. 

That means, they will send a Tesla engineer to pull the data logs.  Then the data logs are sent back to the company!  The engineers then examine the logs.  Regardless of what they find, this is what will happen:

Engineer 1 finds that driver really depressed the gas 100%, brake pedal at 0%.  End of story.  Report submitted to manager.  Manager submits to director and a press conference is made.  Case closed.

Engineer 1 finds that INDEED the gas pedal was at 0% DURING the acceleration.  Okay, so now we have the smoking gun that the car had unintended acceleration.  Engineer files a report to manager.  Manager calls internal meeting with directors, senior directors, VP's, and maybe an email gets sent to Elon Musk.  The end results?  "Deny it, contain it, and cover it up".  The report is now doctored to say the driver was still at fault and the gas pedal was still at 100%.    :D

I'm sorry, but have you guys not been hearing what VW did with their cheating emissions scandal all those years? 

Remember, those students who uncovered the emissions scandal did black box testing to uncover the issue.  They cannot do white box testing which is deep probing of the source code/software.  Black box testing utilizes external output comparison with internal input and to validate whether or not the device is compliant.  They rig the tail pipe to detect the emissions level and then drove the car around.  They couldn't prove where in the code/software it was doing it, but they definitely could prove that during normal driving, it emitted more pollution, but when in diagnostic mode (on a dyno sniffer for smog), they got less emissions from tail pipe.  That in itself is black box testing which proves the software was rigged.

I'm terribly sorry but UNLESS all Tesla owners have a video dash cam of their foot well showing where their foot was at the time of collision, and then another camera showing the dash board, and maybe one more camera showing which "mode" of drive or reverse of their gear selection they're in, all these videos will need to be sync'd up in time down to the nearest second, then just maybe, they'll have a shot in court.
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I love conspiracy stories but Tesla management would be stupid to cover this up. This information would come out eventually. VW is being a made a poster boy for corporate corruption. The billions of dollars in civil penaliteis and potential criminal liability should serve as a strong warning to others.

 
I wonder if the driver turn off that creep mode on his Tesla.

The gasoline car will slowly creep forward without press on the gas paddle when driver put the gear in Drive.  And the driver's foot is always on the brake while performing some slow maneuver like pulling the car into the garage. 

Tesla has this creep mode function to mimic the gasoline car but if the driver turn it off, the driver's foot is on the gas paddle all the time while pull the car into the garage and the driver really have to pay attention to the gas paddle or else, accident will happen.

 
Yes it is technically easy to create software updates but Tesla will be required by law/regulation to retain copies of all their old software versions. The data will alway be there. If Tesla erases the data, that will be a legal field day for plaintiff attorneys.

Also, the Motor Vehicle Safety Whistleblower Program creates a very big incentive for employees or contractors to out their companies: 10-30% reward based on penalties. This could amount to millions of dollars for said employee.
http://www.dickinson-wright.com/news-alerts/the-auto-industrys-safety-whistleblower-program
 
Dresden215 said:
I live on the street where this occurred. I thought it was a home invasion robbery initially because there were 6 IPD squad cars, 2 ambulances & 1 fire truck. Then I walk over to see what the commotion was & saw that the Tesla X crashed through the wall. I kept thinking why the heck do they need 6 squad cars for bad driving skills?! Sheesh! At least I know if there ever is a severe crime occurring in the neighborhood,  I'll have a ton of squad cars at my house in no time!
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NM. 
 
BangBros said:
iacrenter said:
Yes it is technically easy to create software updates but Tesla will be required by law/regulation to retain copies of all their old software versions. The data will alway be there. If Tesla erases the data, that will be a legal field day for plaintiff attorneys.

Also, the Motor Vehicle Safety Whistleblower Program creates a very big incentive for employees or contractors to out their companies: 10-30% reward based on penalties. This could amount to millions of dollars for said employee.
http://www.dickinson-wright.com/news-alerts/the-auto-industrys-safety-whistleblower-program
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If I recall, many whistleblowers regret being one.  Sure you get a payout, but you could never, ever work in the same industry again, or perhaps even in a new industry.  Nobody likes a rat or a narc.  For youngsters who are in their 20s and 30s, and who still got 30+ more years of work to go, whistleblowing... is not a great idea.  Whistleblowing is pretty much career suicide.  I remember the whistleblowers that blew the whistle on airline safety inspection problems.  Those guys completely lost their jobs for life.

Most engineers are not ethical anyways.  We're just told to get it to work, get the yields up, get it out the door, and fix the bugs later.  The bonus is the carrot stick that hangs over us and not to mention the corporate ladder they want to climb.

In silicon valley, the average engineer makes what $150k base gross, probably $180k with bonus, benefits, and 401k.  That's $5.4 million over a lifetime of 30 years.  That is assuming he stays in the same position and the same pay.  Not likely, with inflation.  So you see, he's making good money and whistle blowing isn't a good deal for him...unless they pay upwards of $20million+. 

Now for a McDonalds worker....making minimum wage, then that's a different story......when's the last time we heard about a McDonalds burger flipper blowing the whistle because he found out McDonalds told him to undercook the meat to save electricity costs?  ;D ;D
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Lucky for that engineering whistleblower because he will be get the reward plus job protection. They can't fire you after you disclose a safety violation. If they do, the courts will back you up. Then you get back pay, interest, punitive damages, and your old job back + 10% of the federal penalties. Of course management will hate you but you still get your $$$ and job.
 
@BangBros:

C'mon man... you've been watching too many re-runs of X-Files.

Something that endangers someone's life can't be covered up with an "overnight software update".

There are too many people involved and someone is going to report it. Elon Musk is not CIA/FBI/NSA.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
@BangBros:

C'mon man... you've been watching too many re-runs of X-Files.

Something that endangers someone's life can't be covered up with an "overnight software update".

There are too many people involved and someone is going to report it. Elon Musk is not CIA/FBI/NSA.
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But Elon Musk runs Space X which deals with the government.  ;)
 
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