On April 27th, in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, China, a couple driving a Tesla Model Y new car crashed down a mountain road segment and died despite rescue efforts being unsuccessful. Police revealed that the vehicle was traveling at a speed of 120 km/h at the time of the incident, and the video data from the dashcam inexplicably disappeared, with no braking traces found at the scene.
On May 7th, Tesla customer service responded, stating that if the USB storage space is full or if the owner accidentally presses pause, the dashcam may not be able to function properly.
According to previous reports, Mr. Tao and his wife purchased a Tesla Model Y for over 300,000 yuan at the end of last year. On April 27th, the couple was driving from Meijiang Town, Lanxi City, preparing to return to Jinyi New District in Jindong District, when their vehicle crashed into the guardrail of the Pan Stone Line and plunged off the cliff, resulting in both of them dying.
After the incident, family members raised several doubts about the accident, including the couple’s familiarity with the mountain road where the accident occurred and their previous lack of accidents on that road; why the speed reached 120 km/h; the absence of braking traces at the scene; and why the dashcam data disappeared.
The family pointed out that when the vehicle is in motion, the dashcam must be functional, even if the impact renders it inoperative, it should still record the moment of impact. “Now it’s gone, which somewhat makes people feel incredulous and have to come up with other thoughts.”
The Tesla Model Y owner’s manual regarding the dashcam states that while driving, the dashcam will record the surroundings of the vehicle; if the vehicle detects a serious safety event such as a collision or airbag deployment, the dashcam will automatically save a segment of the video to a USB device. However, whether the dashcam will automatically save video of serious safety events depends on several factors (such as the magnitude of the force, whether the airbags are deployed, etc.). Do not rely on the dashcam to automatically record all serious safety events.
Regarding the issues with the dashcam, Tesla customer service personnel stated that the dashcam is set to automatically save or whistle-save, and records are made on the sensor at the point of impact.
A Tesla spokesperson stated that the company is aware of the incident and is currently relying on the information from the police. They will provide necessary support to the police, but the main handling is by the police, and they are not inclined to interfere too much.
On May 7th, the family revealed that after preliminary investigations, the police had obtained several new findings. According to the police explanation, there were three recording devices on the vehicle at the time of the incident: dashcam recording, black box data, and cloud data. Among them, the data from the black box showed that the vehicle’s speed reached a maximum of 123 km/h during the period when the accident occurred.
The police also stated that the dashcam footage before the incident showed the vehicle driving normally, estimated at a speed of 30-40 km/h; the driver’s blood test results were normal, with no alcohol consumption.
In the latest response from Tesla customer service, it was stated that Tesla’s dashcam will cyclically save the content of the most recent hour. If the USB storage space is full at that time or if the owner accidentally presses pause, the dashcam may not be able to function properly. “As for the specific situation of this vehicle, we have not received the dashcam data yet, nor have we received the final notice from the traffic police, so I cannot accurately answer you.”
The family stated that they can only wait quietly for the traffic police department to produce an official conclusion report of the traffic accident investigation.