Ola says Guwahati rider was overspeeding as father blames firm for accident

After an Ola customer claimed on social media that a fault in the company's electric two-wheeler led to his son's accident, the ride-hailing major said on Friday that its investigation showed the rider was overspeeding.

Balwant Singh from Guwahati had tweeted on April 15 that his son had met with an accident "due to fault in regenerative breaking where on a speed breaker instead of slowing, the scooter accelerated, sending so much torque that he had an accident".

The tweet thread went viral on social media.

Ola said it did a thorough investigation of the accident and the "data clearly shows that the rider was overspeeding throughout the night and that he braked in panic, thereby losing control of the vehicle. There was nothing wrong with the vehicle".

The accident happened on March 26 when Singh's son was driving an Ola S1 Pro.

"The scooter went airborne before crashing and skidding. My son was hospitalised on March 26 and had a fracture in left hand and 16 stitches in right hand due to fault in Ola S1 Pro," tweeted Singh.

Ola said that the scooter's speed on the night of the accident was between 95 kmph and 115 kmph.

At the time of the accident, three brakes were applied together - front, rear and regenerative - bringing the speed from 80 kmph to 0 kmph in 3 seconds.

"Road safety is of paramount importance to us. We strongly recommend everyone to ride responsibly, adhere to speed limits and ensure your're wearing a helmet," Ola said.