Tesla faces lawsuit over Texas crash that killed 76-year-old grandmother
The family of Martha Avila is suing Tesla for more than $1 million, alleging defects in the Model 3’s Full Self-Driving system contributed to a high-speed crash that destroyed a home.
A Texas family has filed a lawsuit in Harris County seeking over $1 million in damages after a Tesla Model 3 collided with a house, killing 76-year-old Martha Avila. The complaint alleges that the vehicle’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) feature either suffered a sudden unintended acceleration fault or failed to detect the end of the street because of hardware changes made during a chip shortage.
The driver, Michael Butler, told police that the driver-assist mode was active when he lost control, but police have not confirmed whether the system was engaged. Tesla disputes responsibility, with CEO Elon Musk posting that the high-speed impact contradicts typical FSD behavior, and the company’s vice president of AI software, Ashok Elluswamy, claiming the driver manually pressed the accelerator to full.
"FSD drives slowly through neighborhood streets, and this was a high-speed crash!" – Elon Musk "In this case, the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100 percent of the accel pedal in this residential area," – Ashok Elluswamy
The lawsuit presents two theories: first, that a known “Sudden Unintended Acceleration” defect, which the plaintiffs say Tesla has not remedied, caused a rapid speed increase; second, that the removal of certain obstacle-detection sensors prevented the car from recognizing the house at the street’s end. The complaint also cites prior reports of Tesla vehicles striking stationary objects while Autopilot was active.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened its own investigation, and local police have reported no evidence of a mechanical malfunction so far. The family’s attorney, Chris Adkins, said the suit aims to uncover the facts and prevent similar tragedies.
"They’re really focused on getting to the truth and figuring out what happened and how it happens so they can prevent it from happening to anyone else again," – Chris Adkins
The plaintiffs have demanded preservation of the vehicle’s components, black-box data, sensor logs, and the car itself in its post-collision condition for examination. They also thanked first responders for their efforts after the crash.