China Detains Tesla Protester at Shanghai Motor Show for 5 Days

Shanghai Public Security Bureau Applies Public Order Violation... Rights Must Be Asserted by Legal Means
Tesla Drives 118.5km on 60km Road... Claims Brakes and Other Systems Functioned Normally During Accident

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Jo Young-shin] A Tesla owner who staged a surprise protest at the Shanghai Motor Show in China has been given administrative detention.

The Shanghai Public Security Bureau announced on the 20th via a statement posted on its official website that Mr. Jang, a Tesla owner who staged a surprise protest at the Shanghai Motor Show the previous day, was punished with five days of administrative detention for violating public order. The bureau added, "Consumers must assert their rights through legal means, and if they take extreme actions, they must bear the corresponding legal responsibilities."

Photo by Global Times Capture

On the opening day of the Shanghai Motor Show, Mr. Jang climbed onto a Tesla showroom vehicle in the morning and shouted "Brake failure" while staging a surprise protest, before being taken away by on-site security personnel.

According to Chinese media such as Caixin, Mr. Jang claimed that in February, the brakes of a Tesla Model 3 driven by his father malfunctioned, causing a collision with two other vehicles and crashing into a guardrail before finally stopping, nearly resulting in the death of the entire family inside the car.

Regarding Mr. Jang’s claims, Tesla rebutted that the vehicle was traveling at 118.5 km/h on a 60 km/h road. Tesla also asserted that the braking system, ABS, forward collision warning, and automatic emergency braking system installed in the vehicle were all functioning normally at the time of the accident. Tesla explained that the cause of the accident was presumed to be speeding rather than a vehicle defect.

Additionally, Tesla stated that Mr. Jang has refused to cooperate with an independent third-party investigation and is demanding a vehicle refund and a large amount of compensation, resulting in no progress in dialogue.

However, most Chinese media tended to report from Mr. Jang’s perspective rather than Tesla’s. State-run media such as Xinhua News Agency extensively covered the incident through online articles, also detailing past cases of conflicts between Tesla and customers both inside and outside China.

Public opinion in China is sympathetic toward the Tesla owner who received administrative detention and cold toward Tesla. In fact, in an urgent online poll conducted by Tencent, 83.5% of the 210,000 respondents supported the protesting owner, while only 16.5% supported Tesla.

The chilly response of Chinese people toward Tesla aligns with the broader China-US tensions. As conflicts between the US and China intensify over issues such as Taiwan independence and human rights in Xinjiang and the Uyghur region, negative public opinion toward American products has formed. Moreover, the day before, a fatal accident involving a Tesla autonomous vehicle occurred in Houston, USA, killing two people, further heightening negative sentiment toward Tesla.

Caixin cited Tesla’s first-quarter driving report, stating that Tesla models equipped with autonomous driving systems experience traffic accidents on average every 6.74 million kilometers.