NHTSA Complaint #10995382 — 2015 TESLA MODEL S

DRIVING WEST ON HAMPDEN AVE TOWARDS INTERSECTION AT TAMARAC ST. GOING THE SPEED LIMIT, & RELEASED THE ACCELERATOR SO THAT "ENGINE BRAKING" WOULD SLOW THE CAR. BUT I WAS SLOWING DOWN FASTER THAN NECESSARY WITH ~100 YARDS REMAINING TO REACH THE INTERSECTION. I LIGHTLY PRESSED THE ACCELERATOR TO STOP ENGINE BRAKING BRIEFLY, THEN RELEASED THE ACCELERATOR TO REINSTATE "ENGINE BRAKING". INSTEAD OF SLOWING, MY CAR BEGAN TO WILDLY ACCELERATE. ALARMED AT THE INCREASING SPEED OF THE CAR, AS I WAS RAPIDLY APPROACHING THE INTERSECTION WHERE THE SIGNAL WAS RED, (ANOTHER CAR WAS ALREADY STOPPED AT THE SIGNAL). QUICKLY APPLIED THE BRAKES, BUT CAR WAS TRAVELING TOO FAST TO AVOID IMPACT WITH THE OTHER CAR. OTHER CAR WAS SIGNIFICANTLY DAMAGED, THOUGH IT SEEMED UNLIKELY (BASED ON COMMENTS FROM THE PARAMEDICS & POLICE) THAT THE OTHER DRIVER & PASSENGER WERE INJURED, BUT WERE TRANSPORTED TO AN ER TO BE CHECKED. I WAS SO STUNNED AT WHAT HAD HAPPENED THAT I INITIALLY THOUGHT I MAY HAVE PRESSED ON THE ACCELERATOR RATHER THAN THE BRAKE ( I'VE NEVER DONE THAT IN MY 55 YEARS OF DRIVING). BUT 2 DAYS LATER, AFTER MY MIND HAD CLEARED, I COULD RECALL THE DETAILS OF THE SITUATION, AND I'M CONVINCED THAT THE ACTUAL EVENTS OCCURRED IN THE ORDER DESCRIBED ABOVE. ANOTHER PIECE OF INFORMATION: 2 TIMES WITHIN THE PRIOR WEEK, WHEN GETTING INTO MY CAR (AWAY FROM MY HOME), THE CAR INDICATED "PREPARING TO DRIVE" OR SOMETHING TO THAT EFFECT (NOT A MESSAGE I NORMALLY SEE), THE MESSAGE PERSISTED, SO BOTH TIMES I HAD TO REBOOT THE COMPUTER SYSTEM, TO MAKE THE CAR DRIVE-ABLE. COULD THIS BE AT ALL RELATED TO THE ACCIDENT ON JUNE 9TH? [THE CAR ,CURRENTLY IN A BODY SHOP, LOGS THE DRIVING HISTORY, AND MAY BE ABLE TO SUPPORT, OR NOT SUPPORT, MY MEMORY OF WHAT HAPPENED. IT MAY HELP TO DIFFERENTIATE WHETHER THIS WAS A COMPUTER HARDWARE/SOFTWAREOR MECHANICAL GLITCH, VS OPERATOR ERROR.]