Tesla said it didn’t have key data in a fatal crash. Then a hacker found it.

So they lied. And they'll lie again. And they'll get away with it.

The information was key for a wrongful death case the survivor and the victim’s family were building against Tesla, but the company said it didn’t have the data.

Then a self-described hacker, enlisted by the plaintiffs to decode the contents of a chip they recovered from the vehicle, found it while sipping a Venti-size hot chocolate at a South Florida Starbucks. Tesla later said in court that it had the data on its own servers all along.

Joel Smith, Tesla’s attorney, said in an interview that the company was “clumsy” in its handling of the data but did not engage in any impropriety with regard to it. “It is the most ridiculous perfect storm you’ve ever heard,” Smith said, in an effort to explain why Tesla was unable to produce the collision snapshot data until after the hacker retrieved it for the plaintiffs.

In court, Smith told jurors in his opening statement that Tesla would “never think about hiding” the data because it proved that the driver had time to react to the pedestrians standing by their parked car had he been paying attention.

“We didn’t think we had it, and we found out we did,” he said. “And, thankfully, we did because this is an amazingly helpful piece of information.”

For reference, here is a poem called the Narcissist's Prayer:

That didn't happen.
And if it did, it wasn't that bad.
And if it was, that's not a big deal.
And if it is, that's not my fault.
And if it was, I didn't mean it.
And if I did, you deserved it.

If I was on the jury or I was the judge in a non-jury trial and this happened, I would have pushed for the largest decision possible. No company or person should be allowed to act like this.

Clear fraud and an attempt to undermine the American public.

Tesla and SpaceX are some of the largest welfare receivers in the country. But they refuse to take accountability or clean up their messes.

I'm sure whoever is in charge into the government, who will have no interests in this, is going to definitely look into Tesla. /s

Good article! Thanks for the archive link. Amazing that this type of shady shit which Tesla is doing is likewise behind a paywalled source where people can’t get this information as easily.

Inside a Starbucks near the Miami airport, the plaintiffs’ attorneys watched as greentheonly fired up his ThinkPad computer and plugged in a flash drive containing a forensic copy of the Autopilot unit’s contents. Within minutes, he found key data that was marked for deletion — along with confirmation that Tesla had received the collision snapshot within moments of the crash — proving the critical information should have actually been accessible all along.

The attorneys high-fived behind him.

Basically too, Tesla has also tried to delete the data again by powering up the unit from the crash, which would have ‘updated’ the device and conveniently removed data. How STRANGE it maintains this behavior… especially for collision snapshots.

Tesla is actively harming people, lying about it, and using shitty tactics to avoid any responsibility for it. Just like its daddy, Elon.

Seriously. This is so fucked yo.
I’m NEVER EVER going to buy Tesla.

Nothing too surprising here

How does archive get the unpaywalled version? I don't think they pay the subscription for every single tabloid out there?

Asking for a friend.

It’s sad. You can avoid dying in a Tesla by not buying one. But you can’t do much about someone else’s Tesla hitting you.

They tried to hide it but didn't try hard enough.

$243 million is pocket change for Tesla. I would insist on more.

The worst part is how much we've normalized getting lied to and gaslighted by companies, and we just accept it and expect it. We don't even complain about it anymore. We've run out of motivation to protest it.

And it will result in Elon getting another government handout. Fucking welfare queen.