Recently, the verdict on Tesla's lawsuit against the Shanghai Auto Show for infringement of the reputation rights of a female car owner in Xi'an was announced. The first instance court determined that Ms. Li's reputation infringement responsibility in Xi'an was established, and she must publicly apologize to Tesla and compensate for economic losses and rights protection costs of 2000 yuan. On November 28th, Southern Metropolis Daily learned from Tesla that the company will file an appeal. It believes that "compared to the losses caused to Tesla, Ms. Li's cost of spreading rumors appears too minor."
According to previous reports from Nandu, the judgment showed that after appraisal, the current technical condition of Tesla's braking system in the case is normal, effective, and there are no faults, and there is no situation where the brake pedal cannot be pressed or the braking efficiency decreases.
Ms. Li, the defendant, shall delete all statements and comments that have damaged the reputation of the plaintiff Tesla (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. published on Sina Weibo within ten days from the effective date of the judgment. She shall apologize to the plaintiff in writing on Sina Weibo, publicly announce for no less than fifteen consecutive days, and compensate the plaintiff for economic losses and rights protection costs of 2000 yuan.
It is understood that Tesla requested Ms. Li to compensate 5 million yuan in the first instance, but the amount of compensation awarded was 2000 yuan. Tesla told Southern Metropolitan Daily reporters that the Shanghai Auto Show incident caused huge losses to Tesla. In addition, in order to promote the identification of the accident vehicle, Tesla found a buyer after Ms. Li sold the vehicle in Xi'an, bought the involved vehicle again, and advanced the identification fee, which cost hundreds of thousands of yuan. "Compared to the losses caused to Tesla, the cost of spreading rumors by Ms. Li in Xi'an seems too minor." Tesla said it will appeal.
According to previous reports from Southern Metropolis, Tesla owner Ms. Li claimed that on March 19, 2021, she collided with another approaching motor vehicle while driving left. In the moment of crisis, I realized that my brakes couldn't be pressed, the ABS didn't activate, and the airbags didn't pop out. Later, I found out that the dash cam was empty.
In response to this, Tesla responded to the Southern Metropolis Daily reporter that Ms. Li did not create a dedicated folder for the driving recorder, so she was unable to activate the driving recording function. Regarding the issue of the airbag not being opened in this collision, Tesla stated that prior to the accident, the vehicle did not receive any warning of a malfunction in the airbag system. The vehicle did not reach the threshold for the deployment of seat side airbags and air curtains during a collision.
On April 19, 2021, Ms. Li from Xi'an and Ms. Zhang from Henan, dressed in clothing with the words "brake failure", made a scene at the Tesla booth of the Shanghai Auto Show. On the same day, Ms. Zhang from Henan was administratively detained by the Qingpu Branch of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau for disturbing public order, and Ms. Li from Xi'an was given an administrative warning.