Chinese Woman Sues Tesla for Faulty Brakes, Now Owes Company $23,000

Tesla has won a defamation lawsuit against Chinese citizen Zhang Yazhou, who was a passenger in a Tesla Model 3 in February 2021. The car crashed, according to the woman, due to faulty brakes, and her mother and father were forced to spend four days in the hospital.

Image source: tesla.com

After the accident, Ms. Zhang publicly protested and sued the American manufacturer for defamation, but Tesla then countersued her for defamation. A Chinese court sided with the company, ordering Zhang to pay the equivalent of $23,000 in damages and issue a public apology.

The woman is now appealing the decision, and Tesla has released telemetry data from the car that appears to show the brakes worked as expected. Tesla has sued “at least” six electric car owners in China over the past four years who complained of mechanical problems with their vehicles, the Associated Press reported.

The agency’s journalists examined lawsuits from a state database in China and found that of 81 civil cases in which Tesla owners sued the company over disputes related to safety, product quality, or contracts, the car enthusiasts won in only nine cases. Tesla also sued “at least six bloggers and two Chinese media outlets” who published critical material about the company.