A woman in China sued Tesla after complaining of faulty brakes — now she’s paying Tesla $23K

As per an investigation by the Associated Press (AP), Tesla has won a defamation lawsuit against one individual called Zhang Yazhou, who in February 2021 was a passenger in a Tesla Model 3 car that allegedly crashed due to faulty brakes, resulting in a four-day hospital stay for both her parents.

Following the accident, Zhang protested publicly and eventually sued the carmaker for defamation, but Tesla then sued her back for defamation. A Chinese court has now ordered Zhang to pay some $23,000 in damages and make a public apology.

While Zhang continues to appeal the outcome, Tesla — under growing pressure — finally released telemetry data from her car, which apparently showed that the brakes had functioned as intended.

The report claims that Tesla has sued “at least” six car owners in China over the past four years for complaining about mechanical issues with its cars.

Separately, the AP said it reviewed court filings from a Chinese government database and found that of 81 civil judgements where Tesla owners sued the company for various safety, quality, or contract disputes, the car owners won just nine of those cases. Additionally, the report said that Tesla has sued “at least six bloggers and two Chinese media outlets” that have written critically about the company.