Gary Zhou 
Key Points
- š Tesla won a lawsuit in China against a customer who claimed brake failure in her Model 3.
- š The incident occurred in April 2021, leading to negative publicity for Tesla in China and worldwide.
- š§ An appraisal by a court-appointed agency found no fault in the Model 3’s braking system.
- š The court ruled the customer’s statements as false and defamatory.
- š The customer, Ms. Li, was ordered to delete social media posts, publicly apologize, and pay damages.
- šø Li is liable for processing fees and vehicle appraisal fees totaling RMB 47,390 ($6,633).
- š This is not the first case; a previous incident involved a Tesla owner fabricating claims of unintended acceleration and brake failure.
Tesla has won a lawsuit against a Chinese customer who had alleged that her Model 3 sedan suffered from brake failure. As per local reports, the court ordered the customer to publicly apologize to Tesla and pay damages.
The case stems from an incident in April 2021, when Ms. Li, a Tesla owner from Xiāan, Shaanxi province, alleged that her Model 3ās brakes failed and caused her to be involved in an accident. Li posted about the incident on social media, and during the 2021 Shanghai Auto Show, she climbed on top of a Tesla Model 3 display unit with a ābrake failureā t-shirt as a form of protest against the EV maker.
Liās allegations sparked a wave of negative publicity for Tesla in China. The incident also caught widespread coverage among news agencies worldwide.
As per an appraisal by a court-appointed agency, the braking system of Liās Model 3 was not faulty at all. The court ruled that Liās statements about Teslaās brakes were false and defamatory. Li was ordered to delete her social media posts, publicly apologize to Tesla, and pay RMB 2,000 ($280) in damages. She is also liable to pay RMB 25,390 ($3,554) in case processing fees and RMB 20,000 ($2,799) in vehicle appraisal fees.
This is not the first time that Tesla has been sued by a Chinese customer. In May 2020, Mr. Chen, a Tesla vehicle owner from Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, drove his Model 3 into a dozen cars before coming to a stop. Chen then took to social media platforms to allege that his Tesla experienced unintended acceleration and brake failure. However, Chen later admitted that he had fabricated the account and apologized to Tesla.
āAfter the accident, I was upset even though I knew I had pressed the accelerator pedal instead of the brake. I have been insulting and defaming Tesla Inc. and Tesla vehicles since mid-August 2020 by continuing to fabricate content on Douyin, Weibo, radio and TV interviews about Teslaās automatic acceleration and brake failure, and about how to cherish life and stay away from Tesla,ā Mr. Chenās statement noted.
