Tesla has been sued by the family of a 76-year-old Texas woman who was killed when a driver using the company’s Model 3 driver-assistance system crashed into her suburban Houston home, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday (23 June).
The family of Martha Avila alleges in the complaint that Tesla should be held liable for wrongful death, accusing the company of gross negligence and failing to properly warn users that its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems were defective.
Lawyers for Avila’s daughter, Jennifer Barbour, and son-in-law, Justin Barbour, said the crash occurred on 19 June in Katy, Texas.
The driver Michael Butler allegedly engaged Autopilot before the vehicle drove through the front wall of Avila’s home, pinning her inside.
Avila later died in hospital, while Justin Barbour was also injured, according to the complaint filed in Harris County, Texas, which seeks more than $1 million in damages as well as punitive damages.
Tesla chief executive Elon Musk said on X that the system was designed for low-speed driving in neighbourhoods and suggested the crash involved high speed, while a Tesla executive said the driver may have overridden the system by pressing the accelerator.
The case comes as U.S. regulators continue multiple investigations into Tesla’s driver-assistance technologies, including nearly 50 special crash probes opened since 2016 and ongoing scrutiny of the company’s Full Self-Driving system.
Tesla says its systems require fully attentive drivers at all times, with hands on the wheel, and that they are not fully autonomous.
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