US automaker Tesla said on Sunday it will assist Chinese police investigating a crash involving one of its Model Y cars after local media reports said two people had died and three were injured when the driver lost control of the vehicle.
A high school girl and a motorcyclist were killed in the incident on November 5 in the southern province of Guangdong, according to Jimu News, which posted a video of a car speeding into other cars and a cyclist.
Read More: Richard Hammond & James May Reunite After A Scandi Flick Crash
“Police are currently seeking a third party appraisal agency to identify the truth behind this accident and we will actively provide any necessary assistance,” Elon Musk’s electric vehicle maker told Reuters in a message on Sunday, cautioning against believing “rumours”.
Read More: Ford Mustang Crashes into Pickup after Driver Attempts A Burnout
The crash was one of the top trending topics on the Weibo social media platform on Sunday, and China is Tesla’s second-largest market.
According to traffic police and an unnamed relative of the driver, the 55-year-old had problems with the brake pedal as he prepared to pull over in front of his family’s store, but the cause of the incident in Chaozhou city has not been determined, according to Jimu News.
Tesla claimed that videos showed the car’s brake lights not being on while it was moving at a high rate of speed, and that its data revealed problems like a lack of action to apply the brakes at any point during the journey.
Calls to police in Raoping, the county where the accident happened, went unanswered on Sunday.
Read More: Jay Leno Seriously Burned In Car Fire At His Los Angeles Garage
Tesla has faced claims of brake failure in China before.
In its statement to Reuters, the company said a Chinese car owner had been ordered by a court to publicly apologise and compensate the firm after it ruled that comments he had made to the media about issues with his brakes were inconsistent with the facts and had harmed Tesla’s reputation.
Reuters could not immediately verify Tesla’s assertion.
Last year, an unhappy customer caused a social media stir by clambering atop a Tesla at the Shanghai auto show to protest the company’s handling of her complaints about malfunctioning brakes involved with a car accident.
In that instance, Tesla said speeding violations were behind her crash but promised to improve how it addressed customer complaints.
