A Tesla Model S may have just damaged itself by driving into a parked trailer
Aaron Brown,Aaron BrownMay 12, 2016, 00:17 IST
When one Tesla Model S owner returned to his parked car, he found it smashed up and severely damaged. Tesla said it's because of his own negligent use of the car's self-parking Summon feature, KSL reports.
Jared Overton of Utah told KSL that on April 29, he exited his Tesla, began speaking to someone about the car while standing next to it for at least 20 seconds, walked inside a building, and returned five minutes later to find his Model S squished underneath a trailer. He claims he did nothing that should've led to the car driving itself.According to Overton, when told Tesla about the incident, a regional service manager responded with the following:"Tesla has reviewed the vehicle's logs, which show that the incident occurred as a result of the driver not being properly attentive to the vehicle's surroundings while using the Summon feature or maintaining responsibility for safely controlling the vehicle at all times."KSL reports that the letter also said Summon was activated just three seconds after Overton exited the car. That doesn't line up with Overton's claim that he was standing by the vehicle for at least 20 seconds.Furthermore, the letter from Tesla reminds Overton that drivers must be aware that the car's sensors may not be able to pick up obstacles that are out of the car's viewing area, which is why drivers must only use Summon when the vehicle is in their direct sight.As for the damage, it's not pretty. From the pictures, it looks like the Model S will definitely be needing a new windshield and probably some relatively major bodywork to the two front pillars. Though the Summon feature is truly a neat piece of car tech, incidents like this show that there's likely a bit more work to be done to make it all seamless and perfect. That's probably why Tesla still considers it to be in the beta testing stage.Tesla was not immediately available for comment. Please enable Javascript to watch this video