Martha Avila, 76, was in her living room in Katy, Texas, when a Tesla Model 3 smashed through the front wall of her home and pinned her fatally against a wall. She died later in hospital. Now her family is suing Tesla and the driver for at least $1m (£759,000), accusing the company of defective design and negligence over its self-driving technology.
Jennifer Barbour, Avila's daughter, and her husband Justin Barbour filed the lawsuit in a Texas state court on Tuesday. The driver, Michael Butler, told police he had been using the car's "full self-driving" mode at the time of the crash on 19 June. The Harris County sheriff's department confirmed the driver described a driver-assistance system being engaged.
“Family of Martha Avila, 76, sues Tesla after fatal crash into her home, alleging defective self-driving technology.”
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced on Wednesday it was opening an investigation into the crash, two days after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) began its own probe. It is now the subject of two federal investigations.
In the lawsuit, the Barbours argue that the Tesla's technology "failed to detect the end of the street", went into "sudden unintended acceleration" and crashed into the home. They say the driver was operating the vehicle "in a reasonably foreseeable manner" with full self-driving engaged. Justin Barbour also suffered severe injuries in the crash.
Tesla's chief executive Elon Musk took to his social media platform X on Monday to deny that the self-driving system was at fault. "This makes no sense," he wrote, adding that the car's full self-driving software "drives slowly through neighborhood streets and this was a high speed crash!"
Tesla's vice-president of AI software, Ashok Elluswamy, followed up with more detail. He wrote that the driver was travelling at 73mph (117 km/h) and had overridden the car's self-driving mode "by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100%". He also claimed the driver "had the accelerator pushed even after the crash".
The lawsuit, seeking damages for anguish, injury, medical expenses and exemplary damages, alleges that Tesla's actions have been "grossly negligent" and that it showed "reckless disregard for a substantial risk of severe bodily injury".
The crash has intensified scrutiny of Tesla's driver-assistance technology. Last week, Democratic Senators Edward Markey and Richard Blumenthal sent a letter to the NHTSA demanding the agency investigate the safety risks of Tesla's full self-driving system.