A Tesla owner says the steering wheel locked up while he was driving Wednesday morning, forcing him to smash into the front of a Noe Valley corner store.
Raymond LaPointe told The Standard he was alone in his Model Y, which he has owned for three years, and was driving it manually when his steering wheel suddenly seized up. The collision with Noe Hill Market left him with scrapes but no other injuries.
“I don’t drive it that much. I’ve heard of other people having some issues, but I never experienced it. But now that it happened to me, I’m rattled — very rattled,” LaPointe said. “I bought the Tesla before I knew Elon Musk was an asshole. Now I don’t like the car.”
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has investigated issues with steering in Model 3 and Model Y Teslas. The company has recalled some of its vehicles and updated the software due to steering problems.
The crash occurred the day before the electric car company is set to unveil its robotaxi model.
The shopkeeper at Noe Hill Market, Said B., said an outer metal gate was damaged by the Tesla, and the driver had told him the car malfunctioned.
“He must have been coming pretty fast, because he hit the pole, then hit the store,” the shopkeeper said. “He was like a 70-year-old man. He did some pretty gnarly damage.”
LaPointe said he encountered no obstacles in the roadway before the crash.
“It just surged on its own. It’s just a horrible nightmarish thing to happen, but I’m going to count my blessings that nobody was injured. The car seized up, and the steering wheel locked. When it happens to you, it’s a nightmare.”
LaPointe said he doesn’t use robotaxis like Waymo and is wary of automation on four wheels: “I don’t use the full self-driving, especially in the city. I don’t trust it enough.”
The San Francisco Police Department confirmed the incident, noting that “impairment due to drugs or alcohol does not appear to be a factor at this time.”