Tesla said this weekend that it will help Chinese police in their investigation of a severe crash involving a Model Y crossover. Local media reports say that two people were killed and three injured in the strange accident that occurred on November 5 in the southern province of Guangdong when the driver allegedly lost control of the electric vehicle.
“Police are currently seeking a third party appraisal agency to identify the truth behind this accident and we will actively provide any necessary assistance,” Tesla told Reuters in a statement, warning against believing “rumors.”
Video of the accident has been one of the top trending topics on the social media platform Weibo. The video below (warning: graphic content) shows a Model Y slowing to park when it suddenly starts accelerating.
Warning: Some viewers may find the following video disturbing
The driver appears to try to avoid motorcyclists on the street while it continues to accelerate. As the Tesla builds speed, though, it clips a cyclist and runs into other vehicles, and finally crashes violently into a building.
Reports from Jimu News suggest that Chaozhou city police have not yet identified a cause for the incident. An unnamed family member of the 55-year-old driver, though, is quoted as saying that there was an issue with the brake pedal.
Tesla brake pedal issues have been a hot topic in China. One angry customer climbed atop a vehicle at the Shanghai auto show last year to protest how the company handled her complaints about malfunctioning brakes and their involvement in a car accident.
Read: Autopilot To Be Called Into Question At Deadly Tesla Model S Crash Trial
The company vowed to improve how it handled customer complaints after that instance but said that speeding violations were behind her crash. Tesla also claimed over the weekend that another owner had been ordered by a court to publicly apologize and compensate it after it found that his complaints about brake issues were inconsistent with the facts of the case and harmed the company’s reputation.
Tesla claimed, in this case, meanwhile, that the brake lights were not on in the footage of the accident and that its data showed that there was no record of the brakes being stepped on throughout the incident.
