Tesla said it will assist a police investigation into a fatal crash involving a Model Y sports utility vehicle in China earlier in November, while suggesting the incident was not caused by a malfunction.

Data taken from the car showed no proof the brake pedal had been applied before the crash, and video showed the brake lights remained off, the electric carmaker said in a statement. Instead, the accelerator had been heavily engaged in the lead-up to the accident, which killed a motorcyclist and high school student on a bicycle.

Tesla will “actively provide any necessary aid” to the local police probe, which may involve a third-party investigator, the statement said.

The Nov 5 accident in Chaozhou in Guangdong province also injured three people, including the driver.

Video footage of the incident circulated on Chinese social media showed a white Model Y speeding until finally crashing.

A verified user on the Chinese Twitter-like platform Weibo, posting under the title of “a family member of the driver”, claimed the driver lost control for the last 2.6km though he had tried to apply the brakes, and that a technical problem must have caused the accident.

While hundreds of people are estimated to die on China’s roads each day, crashes involving Teslas attract intense public interest, with footage quickly going viral on social media.

In a protest that garnered international attention, a female Model 3 owner climbed atop a display vehicle at the 2021 Shanghai auto show and yelled that she almost died because her Tesla’s brakes failed.

The United States carmaker, which initially enjoyed a red carpet welcome in China, finally made a public apology after facing criticism from the local authorities and state-run media, without acknowledging any defect in the car.
-Bloomberg