Owner of Tesla involved in fatal crash in San Francisco says he activated every safety mode on his car before renting it out
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The owner of the Tesla involved in a fatal crash in San Francisco last weekend says he did everything possible to make sure his vehicle was safe to rent.
"I'm surprised, she was going very slowly, you could hardly believe that she would accelerate just like that," said Albert Kim after watching his car's dashcam video of the crash that killed 39-year-old Benjamin Dean and critically injured his wife, Kelly Dean on Sunday. He has turned over the car's thumb drive to police. They are now trying to recover footage from the moment of collision.
"Right at the time of the accident, the data was corrupt," Kim said.
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Kim rents out his Teslas on the service Getaround. It was his car that police say 21-year-old Kelsey Mariah Cambridge was driving at the time of the crash. For every Tesla he rents out, Kim says he makes sure there are safety limits. He even locks the speed, so it can't drive more than 75 mph.
"It's not a performance model, it doesn't have ludicrous mode," he said of the car that Cambridge was driving.
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Kim said he also lists detailed instructions on how to use the car, including YouTube videos that walk through its features.
He says, at the time of the crash, the car was even on Chill mode.
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"Chill mode means it accelerates longer than even standard acceleration," Kim explained.
Cambridge has been charged with involuntary manslaughter. Police say she was speeding through a red light when the crash happened.
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"She managed to crash it below the speed limit that I put," he said.
Kim hopes this crash will focus less on the car and more on how unsafe city streets can be. Earlier this week, family and friends of pedestrians and cyclists killed in San Francisco just this year rallied for change at City Hall.
"The message for the family of course, I feel very bad about this situation," he said.
