BEIJING: Zhang Yazhou was sitting in the passenger seat of her Tesla Model 3 when she said she heard her father’s panicked voice: The brakes don’t work! Approaching a red light, her father swerved around two cars before plowing into an SUV and a sedan and crashing into a large concrete barrier.
Stunned, Zhang gazed at the deflating airbag in front of her. She could never have imagined what was to come: Tesla sued her for defamation for complaining publicly about the car’s brakes – and won. A Chinese court ordered Zhang to pay more than US$23,000 (RM102,827) in damages and publicly apologise to the US$1.1 trillion (RM4.91 trillion) company.
