Photo: Janchubi/Weibo, Paris Police | collage
The owners have appreciated Tesla's one-pedal driving mode, although the feature was often blamed for confusing drivers and leading to sudden unintended acceleration (SUA) crashes. Chinese authorities forced Tesla to make the Creep stopping mode the default in China to mitigate this issue. Now, they want to ban one-pedal driving mode altogether starting in 2026.
If you haven't been living under a rock, you must be aware of the many Tesla crashes allegedly caused by a sudden unintended acceleration (SUA) issue. Tesla owners reported that the car suddenly accelerated, and no amount of pressure on the brake pedal could make the car stop. This developed into a full-blown hysteria in 2020-2022 when people in China started protesting over Tesla's alleged "brake problems." Some even installed cameras in the footwell of their cars to have proof that they braked in case an SUA event happened.
Not only Chinese owners claimed their Teslas accelerated uncontrollably, but also people in the US and Europe. Some high-profile crashes have been widely publicized, and experts offered their two cents on the matter without drawing a definitive conclusion. While Tesla control logic doesn't allow the car to accelerate once the brake pedal is depressed, some believe there are circumstances when this could be, in fact, possible.
Others, like the Greek accident investigator Costas Lakafossis, have put the blame on Tesla's one-pedal driving, and his famous petition to the NHTSA in 2023 offered a couple of pertinent points. According to Lakafossis, many sudden unintended acceleration events were caused by the lack of an "interlock that requires a brake application by the driver in order to shift from Drive to Reverse." This increases the chance that the driver applies the foot on the wrong pedal.
In all SUA crashes, drivers swore that they pressed the brakes, but the car would still not stop. Crash investigations later revealed that they were, in fact, pushing the accelerator, causing the cars to speed and crash. After a few crashes in China, local regulators forced Tesla to change the one-pedal driving logic. In May 2023, Tesla issued an important update in China, changing the default stopping mode from Hold to Creep.
In the Creep mode, the car continues to move slowly forward (in Drive) or backward (in Reverse), similar to how vehicles with automatic transmissions behave. This is intended to force drivers to press the brake pedal for a complete stop, thus introducing an additional safety step. The update also introduces a warning if drivers continue to push the accelerator fully for an extended period. This has done a pretty good job keeping people safe, as no new SUA cases have been reported in China.
Chinese regulators are now taking another step and will formally legislate to ban the one-pedal driving mode not only for Tesla but for all carmakers. China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is about to release a draft of the new regulation called "Technical Requirements and Test Methods for Passenger Car Braking Systems" so interested parties can offer feedback. According to the draft, "the braking effect achieved by releasing the accelerator pedal in forward gear (Drive) should not decelerate the vehicle to a stop." The MIIT intends to have one-pedal driving forbidden in China by 2026.
Not only Chinese owners claimed their Teslas accelerated uncontrollably, but also people in the US and Europe. Some high-profile crashes have been widely publicized, and experts offered their two cents on the matter without drawing a definitive conclusion. While Tesla control logic doesn't allow the car to accelerate once the brake pedal is depressed, some believe there are circumstances when this could be, in fact, possible.
Others, like the Greek accident investigator Costas Lakafossis, have put the blame on Tesla's one-pedal driving, and his famous petition to the NHTSA in 2023 offered a couple of pertinent points. According to Lakafossis, many sudden unintended acceleration events were caused by the lack of an "interlock that requires a brake application by the driver in order to shift from Drive to Reverse." This increases the chance that the driver applies the foot on the wrong pedal.
In all SUA crashes, drivers swore that they pressed the brakes, but the car would still not stop. Crash investigations later revealed that they were, in fact, pushing the accelerator, causing the cars to speed and crash. After a few crashes in China, local regulators forced Tesla to change the one-pedal driving logic. In May 2023, Tesla issued an important update in China, changing the default stopping mode from Hold to Creep.
In the Creep mode, the car continues to move slowly forward (in Drive) or backward (in Reverse), similar to how vehicles with automatic transmissions behave. This is intended to force drivers to press the brake pedal for a complete stop, thus introducing an additional safety step. The update also introduces a warning if drivers continue to push the accelerator fully for an extended period. This has done a pretty good job keeping people safe, as no new SUA cases have been reported in China.
Chinese regulators are now taking another step and will formally legislate to ban the one-pedal driving mode not only for Tesla but for all carmakers. China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is about to release a draft of the new regulation called "Technical Requirements and Test Methods for Passenger Car Braking Systems" so interested parties can offer feedback. According to the draft, "the braking effect achieved by releasing the accelerator pedal in forward gear (Drive) should not decelerate the vehicle to a stop." The MIIT intends to have one-pedal driving forbidden in China by 2026.
$TSLA
— Tsla Chan (@Tslachan) May 31, 2024
With MIIT's announcement of new benchmarks, Tesla vehicles will not be able to experience single-pedal driving in China in the future pic.twitter.com/Pfrv9LHlsu
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