NHTSA Complaint #11505244 — 2022 TESLA MODEL Y

Tesla was in "full self-driving” (FSD) mode in a quiet residential area. Vehicle chose to make a left turn on a less than perfectly symmetric T junction. The car was on the thru street at the top of the T. Street had a middle yellow turning zone with yellow lines on the outer side and dotted ones inside. Camera was not filming at the time the crash began. but did start recording midway. Tesla may have other footage. In retrospect, while indicating it was intending to turn, I believe the car never entered the middle yellow zone, but instead proceeded directly to the middle of this unusually wide neighborhood intersection where no other vehicles were close by in any direction, although a few were approaching from a distance. It appeared safe to complete the turn, but instead the car feinted forward several times and hesitated to commit to the turn as cars gradually approached from both directions, but were still a safe distance away. As I waited for it to turn, the vehicle suddenly accelerated at an alarming rate into the turn, so fast that it slid off the road and over the curb into a wall causing extensive damage to the vehicle. There were no other cars involved and I was not injured, although the car suffered extensive damage and is still being repaired more than two months after the accident. My foot was definitely not on the accelerator throughout the accident and everything happened so very quickly that I had no time to brake or take other action. The oncoming car was quite far away and there was plenty of time to turn safely. If the car issued a warning (although I did not detect one) it would have been almost simultaneous to the amazingly rapid acceleration, leaving no time to react. My speculation is that in its confusion, the vehicle may have transferred nearly instantly from FSD mode to “Accident-Avoidance” Mode, but only Tesla would have that information.