Fatal accident involving a Tesla: the driver files a complaint against the manufacturer

The driver had caused a fatal accident in Paris in December. He assures us that the brake no longer worked and that the accelerator got carried away.

A Tesla taxi, November 12, 2014 in Paris. (ERIC PIERMONT / AFP)

It turns against the vehicle manufacturer. The driver at the wheel of a Tesla electric taxi which caused a fatal accident in December in Paris filed a complaint against the manufacturer Tesla France on Friday for "endangering the lives of others", his lawyer Maitre said on Sunday March 20. Sarah Saldmann. "My client has always maintained the same version: the brake no longer worked, the accelerator got carried away and that is why he is filing a complaint for 'endangering the lives of others'" , explained to the AFP Maitre Sarah Saldmann, confirming information from the Parisian.

The complaint was filed on March 18 at the parquet floor of Versailles, the headquarters of Tesla France being in the Yvelines, west of Paris. A judicial investigation is already underway in Paris, an investigation in which the taxi driver was indicted for "manslaughter and involuntary injuries by land motor vehicle" and placed under judicial supervision. This 57-year-old man, taxi driver for 25 years and resident of Essonne, was not on duty the evening of the fatal accident.

One dead and twenty injured

He was driving in the 13th arrondissement of Paris in his Tesla electric car with his wife and daughters when he lost control of the vehicle. The taxi hit two pedestrians, then a glass container which, under the shock caused by the speed, was thrown in the air and exploded on the ground. The vehicle then hit a traffic light, which was also thrown into the air. Then ended his race in a van in circulation in the middle of the intersection, according to the account of a police source. The accident left one dead and twenty injured.

According to Me Sarah Saldmann, her client had bought her new vehicle in August 2021. The investigation in Paris aims to determine, based in particular on technical expertise, whether the accident is the result of human error or a technical failure.