The parents of a 19-year-old College arts student filed a lawsuit Thursday in Alameda County Superior Court, claiming that a design flaw in Tesla vehicles prevented their daughter from escaping a burning car, resulting in her death by flames and smoke. They allege that the company, which has aided Elon Musk in becoming the world’s richest man, was aware of the flaw for years but failed to address it, leaving their daughter Krysta Tsukahara unable to escape despite attempts to do so, AP news agency reported. The lawsuit follows a recent federal investigation by regulators into complaints from Tesla drivers regarding a stuck-door problem. Both the investigation and the suit come at a critical time for the company as it strives to assure Americans that its cars will soon be safe enough for passengers without a driver present. According to the suit, Tsukahara was in the back of a Cybertruck when a driver, who was drunk and had taken drugs, collided with a tree in a suburb of San Francisco. Three of the four occupants, including the driver, died. The fourth person was rescued after a window was broken by a rescuer. The lawsuit, first reported by The New York Times, alleges that the door flaw prevents opening when the battery powering it is destroyed in a fire or otherwise non-functional, and the manual releases that override the battery locks are difficult to locate. This lawsuit adds to several others that have raised various safety concerns regarding Tesla cars. In August, a Florida jury awarded more than Rs 2,000 crore in damages to the family of another deceased college student killed by a runaway Tesla years ago. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which initiated its stuck-door investigation last month, is examining complaints from drivers who were unable to open back doors after exiting their cars to let children out and, in some cases, had to break a window to reach them.
