Tesla faces lawsuit over deadly Texas crash allegedly involving autopilot

Tesla has been sued by the family of a 76-year-old Texas grandmother who was killed last week after a driver allegedly using a Tesla Model 3's automated driving assistance system crashed into her suburban Houston-area home.

According to a lawsuit filed on Tuesday, Elon Musk's electric vehicle maker should be held liable for the wrongful death of Martha Avila. The complaint alleges gross negligence and claims Tesla failed to adequately warn users about alleged defects in its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems.

The lawsuit was filed by Avila's daughter, Jennifer Barbour, and her husband, Justin Barbour. They allege that the driver of the Tesla Model 3, Michael Butler, told law enforcement officials he had activated Autopilot before crashing into the front wall of Avila's home in Katy, Texas, on June 19. The impact reportedly pinned Avila, who later succumbed to her injuries at a nearby hospital. Justin Barbour was also injured in the incident.

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Filed in Harris County, Texas, the lawsuit seeks more than $1 million in damages, along with punitive damages, alleging that Tesla acted with reckless disregard for a substantial risk of serious bodily injury.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has disputed claims linking the crash to the company's self-driving technology. In a post on X, Musk said that Full Self-Driving (FSD) typically operates at low speeds on neighborhood streets and described the incident as a high-speed crash. Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla's vice president of AI software, separately stated that the driver had manually overridden the system by fully depressing the accelerator pedal in the residential area.

The crash is also under investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Since 2016, the agency has opened nearly 50 special investigations into Tesla crashes believed to involve advanced driver-assistance systems, with roughly two dozen fatalities reported.

In March, the NHTSA expanded its probe into 3.2 million Tesla vehicles equipped with Full Self-Driving over concerns that the system may fail to adequately detect hazards or warn drivers in poor visibility conditions. Tesla had previously recalled nearly 2 million vehicles in 2023 to strengthen safeguards aimed at ensuring drivers remain attentive while using Autopilot.

( with inputs from Reuters)