Tesla wins public apology from owner who tormented the company

Tesla has won a court order against an owner in China who tormented the company with protests at stores and events over an alleged “brake failure” that was proven nonexistent.

In 2021, Tesla was stuck in a strange situation in China where a Model 3 owner, Ms. Zhang, kept showing up at Tesla stores and events to protest the company over what she claimed was a brake defect that led to an accident.

The accident reportedly happened to another owner, Ms. Li, but Zhang was the one protesting.

The situation first came to light when the Tesla owner protested at the automaker’s booth at the Shanghai Motor Show and was arrested by police.

Tesla ended up posting a response to the event on its Chinese social media, which later started trending for being perceived as “cocky” by the public, according to Chinese media. The company ended up apologizing for how it handled the situation.

But the automaker successfully destroyed Zhang’s case when it released the data logs of the Model 3 involved in the accident.

It showed that the driver was at fault.

Tesla also shared a detailed account of Zhang’s behavior leading up to her arrest. It’s quite a story that involves her bringing her crashed vehicle to a Tesla store and hiring models to stand next to it. She staged several similar protests before the event at the more publicized Shanghai Motor Show.

We haven’t heard much about the situation over the last two years as it worked through the court.

During the court process, they had a third party to inspect the vehicle to check the brakes, something Tesla claims the owner was preventing prior to the legal process, and it confirmed that there was no issue with the brakes.

Now the Weiyang District People’s Court in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province ruled that the owner was at fault and she needs to remove her social media posts claiming brake failure, write a public apology to Tesla, and pay 2,000 yuan (US $280) to cover legal costs, as well as 20,000 yuan to cover the cost of the inspection.