Just days after a driver slammed their Tesla Model 3 into a home in Katy, Texas, killing 76-year-old Martha Avila, her family has filed a lawsuit against that driver, Michael Butler, and Tesla.
The lawsuit, filed on June 22 in Harris County District Court by Avila’s daughter Jennifer Barbour and son-in-law Justin Barbour on behalf of her estate, alleges that defects in Tesla’s driver-assistance technology contributed to the June 19 crash. It also accuses Butler of negligence and gross negligence.
According to the filing, Butler told authorities he was using Autopilot when the Model 3 accelerated down the road and slammed through the front of the home. Justin Barbour was also reportedly injured in the crash.
The complaint claims Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems were defectively designed, alleging the vehicle either failed to recognize the end of the street and the home in front of it or experienced sudden unintended acceleration.
The suit also alleges Tesla failed to adequately warn drivers about the limitations of its driver-assistance systems and seeks more than $1 million in damages, along with punitive damages.
The filing comes after investigators announced on Tuesday there was no evidence of a mechanical malfunction.
UPDATE: The Harris County Sheriff's Office says that investigators have found no evidence of a mechanical malfunction in the Model 3.
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Tesla has addressed the crash, with the company’s VP Ashok Elluswamy saying the vehicle’s logs show Butler manually overrode the self-driving system by pressing the accelerator pedal to 100%, reaching a speed of 117 km/h (73 mph) at the time of impact.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has launched a Special Crash Investigation into the incident. The lawsuit requests that Tesla preserve all relevant evidence, including telemetry data, software versions, camera recordings, and Autopilot and Full Self-Driving logs.
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