The family of a woman who was killed when a Tesla in an automated assist mode crashed into her Houston area home has filed a lawsuit against the automaker and the person behind the wheel, attorneys said Tuesday.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.The suit, filed by 76-year-old Martha Avila’s daughter Jennifer Barbour and her husband Justin Barbour in Harris County District Court, alleges a “design defect” involving Tesla and a failure to warn.It alleges negligence against both Tesla and the driver, Michael Butler.Avila was in her home in Katy, a Houston suburb, at around 8 p.m.
Friday when a Tesla Model 3 crashed into her brick residence, according to officials.She was airlifted to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office has said.Butler “stated he was operating with an automated driving assistance system engaged at the time of the crash,” according to the sheriff’s office.The office said that Butler showed no signs of intoxication and was cooperative.Tesla and its founder, Elon Musk, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night, but in a post Monday night on X, he responded to a news story about the crash.“FSD drives slowly through neighborhood streets, and this was a high-speed crash!” he wrote, referring to the vehicle’s Full Self-Driving mode.Tesla first rolled out “autopilot” and later “Full Self-Driving” as features on its vehicles.
The company says on its website that both are “intended for use with a fully attentive driver, who has their hands on the wheel and is prepared to take over at any moment.”Ashok Elluswamy, vice president of AI software at Tesla, on Monday defended the vehicle’s systems.“In this case, the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100% of the accel pedal in this residential area,” Elluswamy wrote on X, which is also owned by...