Texas Family Drags Tesla to Court After a Self-Driving Car Killed a Woman in Her Home A Tesla crashed into a Texas home, killing Martha Avila. Her family is now suing both the driver and Tesla, blaming the company's FSD driver assistance feature for her death. A horrific crash in Texas has once again dragged Tesla's self-driving technology into a courtroom. A Tesla plowed straight into a home, killing Martha Avila. Her family has now filed a lawsuit not just against the man behind the wheel, but against Tesla itself, arguing that the company's Full Self-Driving (Supervised) feature, known as FSD, contributed to her death. The driver, 44-year-old Michael Butler, later told police that Tesla's driver assistance features were engaged at the time of the crash. These are the same features the automaker says make driving safer and less stressful. The Harris County Sheriff's Office, which responded to the scene, noted in its report that Butler showed no signs of intoxication. The family's claim: the technology was defective Lawyers for Avila's daughter and son-in-law wrote in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Harris County District Court that Tesla's technology was defective in design and unreasonably dangerous. The son-in-law, Justin Barbour, was also inside the home and was injured in the crash. FSD is built to handle several aspects of driving on its own, including navigating city and residential roads, stopping for red lights and stop signs, and changing lanes. The catch is that drivers are still required to stay alert and be ready to take over instantly if the system makes a mistake. The company pushes back Tesla did not respond to requests for comment. On X, however, Tesla's vice president of AI software, Ashok Elluswamy, wrote that Tesla's data showed Butler had manually overridden self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100 percent, and that the accelerator remained pressed even after the crash. Tesla CEO Elon Musk also posted that speculation about the company's technology playing a role made no sense. Many of the crash's details are still to emerge, and it is entirely possible that Tesla's technology had nothing to do with Avila's death. But even if the driver is mostly at fault, the automaker could still be found at least partially responsible, leaving it on the hook for large monetary damages. "If the product is designed in a way that it leaves drivers vulnerable to situations where suddenly the system is not working and they've lost situational awareness, Tesla could be found responsible," says Matthew Wansley, a professor at Yeshiva University's Cardozo School of Law who studies automotive technology. It has happened before In fact, there is already precedent. Last year, a Florida jury found that the driver of a Tesla Model S using Autopilot, the company's earlier driver assistance software, was mostly responsible for a crash. The driver failed to notice that the T-shaped intersection his car was traveling on was ending. He kept his foot on the accelerator, and the Tesla struck and killed 22-year-old Naibel Benavides Leon. Her boyfriend, 26-year-old Dillon Angulo, was seriously injured. Though Tesla often boasts about its vehicles' extensive data collection, the company said it could not recover critical data tied to the case; Benavides' family lawyers later managed to retrieve it with help from a hacker. But in a precedent-breaking decision, the jury also found that Tesla shared one-third of the responsibility for the crash because it believed Autopilot was effective. It held Tesla liable for $200 million in punitive damages, plus an additional $43 million in compensatory damages. A judge upheld the verdict earlier this year. The better the tech, the bigger the risk? Critics of Tesla's approach argue that the real problem is precisely that FSD is pretty good. If drivers trust that the system always works well, they may not be ready to take over when something goes wrong. In a 2018 California highway crash, the driver of a Model X using Autopilot failed to take control of the steering before the vehicle slammed into a barrier, killing him. Tesla later settled a lawsuit related to that crash just hours before it was set to begin. FSD under investigation An ongoing probe by the Office of Defects at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), opened last fall, touches on the same concern. The investigation was triggered by more than 40 reported incidents in which FSD failed to follow traffic laws, including one crash in which a Tesla with the feature engaged ran a red light. The agency wrote in a filing that the review will assess whether the feature gives users "prior warning or adequate time for the driver to respond to the unexpected behavior or to safely supervise" the technology. Back in 2023, NHTSA forced Tesla to issue an Autopilot-related recall after a two-year investigation suggested the system encouraged driver inattention. That recall was rolled out as an over-the-air software update. Two federal agencies are now probing the crash More is expected to emerge about the Texas crash, whether or not the lawsuit reaches open litigation. At least two federal agencies are investigating. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), an independent federal agency that investigates major transportation incidents, said Wednesday that it had opened a joint probe with the Harris County Sheriff's Office. Agency spokesperson Peter Knudson could not say whether the NTSB had received additional information or data from Tesla before opening the investigation, but said the board typically receives "very general information about the circumstances of the accident in order to make the decision whether or not to investigate." NHTSA, the nation's top road safety regulator, confirmed this week that it had also opened an investigation into the crash. In a statement, Ryan Zehl, a lawyer representing Martha Avila's family in the Texas lawsuit, said the family was understandably devastated. "We are committed to determining exactly what happened to prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future," he said. What this means for you • For car buyers: Fully trusting self-driving or driver assistance features can be dangerous, since even with them on, the driver must stay alert and ready to take over at any moment. • For Tesla investors: The lawsuit and two federal investigations add pressure of heavy damages and legal risk, much like the earlier $243 million verdict against the company. Questions & Answers 1. Who died in the Texas crash? Martha Avila was killed when a Tesla crashed into her home. 2. Who is being sued? Avila's family is suing both the driver, Michael Butler, and Tesla itself. 3. Who was driving the car? The driver was 44-year-old Michael Butler, who told police that Tesla's driver assistance features were engaged at the time of the crash. 4. What did Tesla say about it? Tesla's Ashok Elluswamy said Butler manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator to 100 percent, and Elon Musk called speculation about the technology's role nonsensical. 5. What does the FSD feature do? FSD handles tasks like navigating city and residential roads, stopping for red lights and stop signs, and changing lanes, but drivers must stay alert and take over when needed. 6. Has there been a similar verdict against Tesla before? Yes, last year a Florida jury found Tesla one-third responsible for a crash and ordered $200 million in punitive damages plus $43 million in compensatory damages. 7. Who is investigating this crash? At least two federal agencies, the NTSB and NHTSA, are investigating the crash. https://trendkia.com/en/gear/texas-men-ghara-men-ghusi-tesla-ne-li-mahila-ki-jana-aba-fsd-takanika-para-korta-men-jnga-3033 TrendKia — Har trend, sabse pehle.