First Report Of Accident With Tesla Smart Summon Emerges

Supporters doubt it and say the Twitter user either staged it or failed to use it.

By: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo

Sep 28, 2019 at 6:44pm ET

Add InsideEVs as a preferred source in Google

Comment

That was fast. Just a few days after Tesla put the Smart Summon in wide release, a Twitter user claimed it made him slam his car against the side of his garage. Tesla supporters lost no time in defending the company. They accuse this user of staging the whole thing or simply not being able to use it properly.

AB (@abgoswami) went to Twitter with the following message:

AB’s last tweet was from May 2015. That is the first thing Tesla supporters claimed to be strange. But that does not sound so strange when you know Elon Musk is so active on Twitter. If anyone is willing to reach him, that is the right platform, even if you are not very fond of it. Probably AB’s case.

It was enough for a lot of people to start talking about the incident. Some defending Tesla, some attacking it and at least one of them saying he also had an issue with Tesla Summon. Chris Felton got it on September 6, before V10, which he still does not have in his Model S. He tried it on the same day. And it did not go well, as his tweets show:

“I’m sitting in the tractor on the right. The Tesla steers into the column. You can see the mirror pop back at the very end of the video,” Fenton told InsideEVs. "Just missed the front fenders. The chrome delete on the mirror gets a white scuff from the wall rub."

Fenton had an early version of the Summon Mode. AB names specifically Enhanced Summon, which is now called Smart Summon, but we are not sure if it was already the one with V10. We have tried to contact him to get more details on what happened.

While we do not manage to reach him, we have checked the answers that criticize him. It is sad just some of them stick to the facts, such as this one.

It makes sense. And it does not match the description AB gave. That is why we need to have a more detailed version of the facts. If you happen to know AB, ask him to get in touch with us.

What do you think?

View

Comments

In our last article about Tesla Smart Summon, we wondered what would happen if any accident occurred. Who would be held responsible for it? What if the damage involved a person? We hope we won’t have to answer that.

It also worries us that so many Tesla owners want that feature. Not only now, with wide release, but on early access – to help test it. Like happy guinea pigs. Has Tesla tested it long enough before releasing it? If AB’s accident was not his fault, is it Tesla’s for making it available too soon? If more cases emerge, that is something that will need to be addressed. Warn us about them, if you can.

Share this Story