Tesla has won a lawsuit against Zhang Yazhou, a Chinese woman who crashed her parents' car due to faulty brakes. Her mother and father were hospitalized for several days with concussions. But the automaker says it's a slander.
Tesla has won a lawsuit against Zhang Yazhou, a Chinese woman who crashed her parents' car due to faulty brakes. Her mother and father were hospitalized for several days with concussions. But the automaker says it's a slander.
In February 2021, Zhang Yazhou was sitting in the passenger seat of a Tesla Model 3 when she heard her father's panicked voice: "The brakes don't work!" Her mother and young niece were also in the car. Approaching a red light, her father swerved two cars, then crashed into an SUV, a sedan and a large concrete barrier. The parents were hospitalized for four days, according to an investigation by the Associated Press (AP).
The traffic police determined that her father was at fault for the accident because he did not maintain a safe distance. Zhang, however, insisted that the brakes had failed, causing the car to go out of control. She filed a complaint with the local market regulator, demanding redress and compensation. Teslas are among the most computerized cars on the market, so Zhang asked the automaker to give her complete data from her car before the accident, hoping that it would help explain what went wrong. Tesla refused.
“Tesla employees were very arrogant and harsh in handling my complaints,” Zhang said in an interview.
After the accident, Zhang publicly protested and eventually sued the automaker for defamation, but Tesla sued her in return. In May 2024, a Chinese court ordered Zhang to pay about $23,000 in damages and issue a public apology.
While Zhang continues to challenge the result, Tesla — under mounting pressure — finally released telemetry data from her car, which apparently showed that the brakes were working properly.
The report claims that Tesla has sued “at least” six car owners in China over the past four years for complaints of mechanical problems with its cars.
Separately, the AP reported that it analyzed court cases from a Chinese government database and found that of 81 civil lawsuits filed by Tesla owners against the company over various safety, quality or contract disputes, the car owners won only nine cases. The report also said that Tesla has sued “at least six bloggers and two Chinese media outlets” who wrote critically about the company.
An investigation by the Associated Press found that Tesla launched an aggressive legal strategy and used the patronage of influential leaders of China's ruling Communist Party to silence critics, receive financial rewards and limit its liability.
Tesla has benefited from the Chinese state's generosity, receiving unprecedented regulatory concessions, loans at below-market rates and large tax breaks. With a few notable exceptions, Tesla enjoys largely favorable coverage in the Chinese press, and journalists told the AP they have been ordered to avoid negative coverage of the automaker.
Reviewing public court documents, the AP found that Tesla has won nearly 90% of civil cases involving safety, quality or contract disputes initiated by customers.
