[Video] Tesla Model X owner explains EV’s footage of him striking a pedestrian in his ‘blind spot’
It was July 2022. Twitch streamer Caren Babaknia was in a parking lot on a sunny day before noon. His Tesla Model X was in reverse. When he pulled out of the spot, though, he promptly bumped a woman standing at the EV’s left rear corner. She fell to the ground. Two and a half years later, and he’s posted the footage of the incident on social media. The video went viral, gaining nearly half a million likes this month just on Instagram…and lots of criticism in the comments section, by the way.
Tesla design flaw, driver neglect, or attempted insurance fraud?
Babaknia says that the lady stood right in his blind spot. The Model X’s side view mirrors were set to tilt down if he put the EV in reverse. In theory, this setting could prevent the driver from clearly seeing certain areas behind them.
The Tesla owner says he’s since turned the side view mirror tilt off.
On the TikTok version, Babaknia explained that “on newer Model X EVs, the car will automatically go into drive and reverse.” As soon as he closed the door and put his seatbelt on, the EV made a “reverse humming sound” and illuminated its rear lights.
Still, the comments were highly critical of both the driver and the people he filmed watching the footage. They laughed when the video got to him striking the pedestrian.
“This is a perfect example of why you don’t just rely on mirrors and sensors to do the driving for you. If you would have turned your head before moving the car you would have seen her,” one said.
“Good thing your Tesla recorded everything so everyone can see you are 100 percent responsible,” another posted.
“You just hit a person and she face planted on the pavement …. And everyone laughs hysterically about it.. what the hell is wrong with you?” another posed. This one earned more than 17,000 likes.
In certain ways, though, how the woman stood still at the left rear corner of the clearly occupied parking spot, next to an empty spot, was a bit odd. Another pedestrian casually crosses the lane, walking right past the woman. It seems like the lady in question was waiting for something or someone, since she didn’t cross when the coast was clear several times. She keeps looking from side to side, not moving.
The jolt from the Model X sent her flying to the ground, bag and sunglasses splayed out.
It doesn’t look like she put her hands out to cushion the fall. The EV owner says she’s okay, by the way.
By the end of the claims process, Babaknia says that local police, his attorney, and the insurance company suspected the pedestrian was attempting fraud. We don’t know the woman’s side of the story. It’s possible she was looking for her ride in the parking lot and wasn’t aware that the Model X was about to back into her. In my mind, neither the driver nor the pedestrian was paying attention, but that’s just my two cents. Happy to hear that apparently no one was hurt, since it could have gone much worse.
