>I have a feeling a traditional manufacturer like Toyota would have been sued to bankruptcy after 3-4 accidents like this.
In the US market Toyota would absolutely get the kid gloves same as Tesla does.
Look at how literally any discussion about Tesla or Toyota here goes. There are tons of people that will cut either a pass on anything up to and possible including feeding puppies into a wood chipper because they like the product. There are also people who hate Tesla for playing fast and loose and hate Toyota for not jumping on the EV bandwagon a decade ago but they are not numerous enough to really drive the discussion/narrative. Regulatory agencies are made up of the same well to do white collar demographics as HN so the internal discussion there would be basically the same but in polite business speak. So the end result would be underwhelming because the unanimity and enthusiasm to do a thorough job just isn't there.
Now, if a bunch of Nissan Sentras or Chrysler 200s were catching on fire there would be no problem turning the enforcement screws to the fullest extent because nobody cares about giving the benefit of the doubt to brands that are stereotypes as building disposable junk for the poors.
Unfortunately, that is the only reason the case is being followed.
> ...said Ahn Ho-joon, another "replacement driver" in South Korea, who had a Tesla accident in May nearly identical to Choi's, police records show.
No friend of a president was injured in that case