Son Ji-chang (left) and world famous pianist Yuki Kuramoto (right)[Son Ji-chang's Facebook]
Son Ji-chang, a South Korean singer-actor, pledged a tough legal battle with Tesla Motors, accusing the US electric vehicle maker of hurting his pride with false accusations over the crash of his sport utility vehicle Model X.
The 46-year-old celebrity living inIrvine, Orange County, said he would ask the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to launch an open investigation into a sudden unexpected acceleration of Tesla's Model X.
"I will never step back. I will stick to my last, putting everything and my pride at stake," Son told Yonhap News Agency, adding it's not for money but for his pride because he was falsely charged. "I got disappointed so much with Tesla's attitude in handling an affair endangering a person's life."
Son filed a lawsuit with a US court last week, claiming his Model X suddenly accelerated on September 10 when he was parking it into the garage, ramming through his living room. He said the crash left him and his son injured.
On his recent Facebook post, Son said he decided to file a lawsuit because Tesla did not admit the car's errors. He claimed Tesla had dragged its feet in investigating the incident and tried to shift responsibility on him.
Since only 16,000 Model Xs have been sold, the number of those that unintentionally accelerate is "staggeringly high" when compared with other cars on the road, Son said in his lawsuit.
Tesla said it was not responsible for the crash. "The evidence, including data from the car, conclusively shows that the crash was the result of Mr. Son pressing the accelerator pedal all the way to 100 percent," the company said in a statement.
The company argued Son had tried to use his status to threaten the company "unless we agreed to make a financial payment and acknowledge that the vehicle accelerated on its own". "Our policy is to stand by the evidence and not to give in to ultimatums."
Tesla advertises its Model X as being equipped with self-driving hardware that is "substantially safer" than human drivers, but Son and his attorneys contended the Model X has programmatic flaws.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
