Tesla probed for unsanctioned playback of scary phrase due to a Model 3 screen malfunction

China's Consumers Association reports are the gift that keeps on giving when it comes to strange incidents with electric cars, Teslas included. The latest entry list contains gems like an EV owner complaining they had to charge dearly on a highway station with the cost to top up their electric car getting equal to filling up a gas-powered vehicle. Expensive charging aside, a Tesla owner in China experienced something more traumatic that happened with her Model 3 that she bought back in January.

On April 27, Ms. Zheng noticed that her Tesla Model 3's infotainment system volume automatically went to the maximum and she couldn't lower it no matter how she tried. Upon entering the vehicle at about 9PM on that day to get home with her daughter, she noticed that the A/C control panel started appearing and disappearing on its own and an audiobook app was also making unsanctioned playbacks. Upon arriving, she called Tesla's customer service and they advised her to reboot the infotainment system.

She did, but while the system restarted, it suddenly played the "I died a horrible death" phrase, scaring her and her daughter out of the car. Tesla's customer service have confirmed the incident, saying that they traced the moment to a display malfunction where they detected multiple taps before the playback happened. It seems that the automatic start of an audiobook app that played a title containing the scary phrase was behind it all, so Tesla replaced the touchscreen free of charge, says the China Consumers Association report.

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