Tesla’s China operations team on Monday denied that a technical failure was to blame for a crash on Nov. 25 in the southwestern city of Chengdu involving a speeding Tesla and 11 other vehicles; three were injured but no one was killed. An analysis of the car by the US automaker found the accelerator pedal had been pressed hard, increasing the vehicle’s speed from 54 kilometers (34 miles) per hour to 132 km/h at the time of the crash. Queried online in China about why the brake light was on but the car did not slow down, the company explained that the brake pedal was only applied two seconds after the initial hit when the brake was already damaged. The car owner surnamed Wang told Chinese media outlets that his new Tesla, registered the same day, accelerated suddenly and had been unable to stop. [Chinanews.com, in Chinese]
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