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Watch a disgruntled Tesla owner jump on top of a car at the Shanghai auto show

Apr 20, 2021, 02:23 IST
Business Insider
The protester was eventually dragged away by security.Aly Song/Reuters
  • A protester jumped on top of a Tesla Model 3 at the Shanghai auto show.
  • The woman reportedly claims that faulty brakes caused her father to crash and is demanding a refund.
  • Tesla has faced mounting scrutiny from Chinese regulators over quality-control issues.
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A peeved Tesla owner caused a scene at the Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition on Monday by jumping on top of a Model 3 to protest the carmaker's quality-control issues.

The woman stood on top of the electric car wearing a t-shirt with the phrases "Invisible Killer" and "The Brakes Don't Work," according to The Wall Street Journal. In videos posted to social media, security guards can be seen attempting to hide the woman from the crowd using umbrellas as she screams about how Teslas have defective brakes.

She was eventually carried away by security.

The woman seen protesting is a Tesla owner whose father crashed a Model 3 in February, according to a statement Tesla put out on Chinese social media that was viewed by the Journal. She claims the incident was the result of faulty brakes and is insisting on a full refund on the car, but Tesla says the crash was due to excessive speed, according to the statement.

A Tesla representative told Bloomberg that it has tried to resolve the issue to no avail. The company did not respond to a request for comment from Insider.

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The incident comes as Tesla's relationship with officials in China, the world's largest electric-vehicle market, grows increasingly tense.

Chinese regulators called in Tesla for a meeting in February over issues consumers had raised including battery fires and unintended acceleration. And in March, multiple outlets reported that Beijing had restricted the use of Teslas by military and other government-related personnel over security concerns involving the vehicles' cameras.

Read more: Apple can definitely build a car - but it wouldn't want to sell it in the US

CEO Elon Musk has attempted to make nice with the Chinese government by appearing at a government conference and by praising the country's climate goals on state television. After the February meeting, Tesla said it had "deeply reflected on its shortcomings" in a statement posted to social media.

The news also comes as Tesla faces regulatory scrutiny in the US. Federal regulators said Monday that they will investigate a crash involving a Tesla without a driver that killed two people in Texas on Saturday.

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