Federal investigators have opened a second inquiry into a June 19 crash in which a Tesla struck a Texas home, killing a resident, as the victim’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit alleging defects in the company’s driver-assistance technology.
The National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday it was launching an investigation into the crash that killed 76-year-old Martha Avila in Katy, a suburb of Houston. The announcement came two days after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it was investigating the same incident.
Lawyers for Avila’s family filed a civil complaint Tuesday in Texas state court seeking more than $1 million in damages, along with punitive damages, against Tesla and the driver, Michael Butler, according to court documents. The lawsuit was filed by Avila’s daughter, Jennifer Barbour, and her husband, Justin Barbour, who said he was also injured in the crash.
The complaint alleges gross negligence and failure to warn that Tesla’s “autopilot” and “full self-driving” systems in the Model 3 were defective, according to the filing.
The driver told authorities he had engaged a driver-assistance system before the vehicle plowed through the front wall of Avila’s home, fatally pinning her, according to a statement from the Harris County sheriff’s department and the Barbours’ court filing. Avila died later at a nearby hospital.
Tesla and Elon Musk, the company’s CEO, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. On Monday night, Musk posted on X, the social media platform he owns, defending the technology: “FSD drives slowly through neighborhood streets and this was a high speed crash!”
Tesla’s vice president of artificial intelligence software, Ashok Elluswamy, posted separately on X that “the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100% of the accel pedal in this residential area.”
The NTSB said it would investigate the crash “in coordination with the Harris county sheriff’s department” but did not specify which areas the probe would focus on.
Federal regulators have increased scrutiny of Tesla’s driver-assistance technology in recent years. Since 2016, NHTSA has opened nearly 50 special investigations into crashes believed to involve advanced driver-assistance systems, with about two dozen deaths reported from those crashes. In March, NHTSA escalated an investigation into 3.2 million Teslas equipped with full self-driving technology, citing concerns that the system may fail to detect or warn drivers in poor visibility.
Tesla recalled about 2 million cars in 2023 — nearly all of its electric vehicles on U.S. roads at the time — to improve safeguards ensuring driver attention while using autopilot. The company has said both autopilot and full self-driving require “fully attentive” drivers with their hands on the wheel.
The Barbours’ lawsuit also names Butler as a defendant. It was not immediately clear whether he has retained a lawyer. Efforts to reach him were not immediately successful.
MSI previously reported on the initial crash and a separate incident involving a Tesla in Connecticut here.