Made-in-China Tesla cars wait to be shipped overseas outside its factory in Shanghai in October 2020. Photo:cnsphoto

The cause of the road accident in Taizhou, East China's Zhejiang Province, on May 17 has been identified by the Taizhou Public Security Bureau on Sunday. The authorities said the driver has to take full responsibility as it was found that the Tesla vehicle did not have anything to do with the accident.

The road accident left one traffic police officer dead and another injured in Taizhou last month which put Tesla under the spotlight for several car accidents in the previous months. 

The driver, surnamed Chen, was driving a Tesla car on May 17 when he collided with two police officers on the road, according to the police. 

Taizhou police conducted a comprehensive on-site investigation and inquiry in accordance with the law and regulations, and assigned a third-party professional organization to inspect and identify the vehicle. After testing and identification, the performance of the vehicle was deemed normal. The police determined that the accident had nothing to do with the Tesla car and that the driver should take full responsibility for illegal driving.

Tesla previously expressed sincere sympathy for the two victims of the accident and said that it would fully cooperate with the relevant authorities in the investigation.

The US electric car manufacturer has been under the public spotlight after a woman surnamed Zhang climbed onto a Tesla car at the Shanghai Auto Show 2021 to protest for a brake malfunction in her Tesla, which went viral on social media.

In an interview with the Beijing News published on Thursday, Zhang revealed for the first time 48 pages of Tesla's driving data before the car accident.

"The data that Tesla gave us was missing a lot of parameters, such as motor torque and brake pedal displacement. When we asked Tesla to give us the full data, they said that the data we had was enough for us to know the truth, which was actually not enough," Zhang said.