Lawsuit against Tesla: Families accuse Cybertruck door handles of causing the death of three students
Kyiv • UNN
Two San Francisco families have filed a lawsuit against Tesla, alleging that faulty Cybertruck door handles trapped three students in a burning car after an accident. This led to their deaths from smoke and burns.
Two San Francisco families have accused Tesla of the deaths of three students after a crash, claiming that the design of the Cybertruck's door handles trapped passengers inside the vehicle during a fire. This is reported by UNN with reference to Electrek.
Details
Two families from the San Francisco Bay Area have filed a lawsuit against Tesla over the deaths of their children – a 19-year-old daughter and a 20-year-old son. According to them, "the tragedy occurred due to faulty Cybertruck door handles that prevented passengers from escaping the vehicle in time."
The incident occurred on the eve of Thanksgiving 2024 in Piedmont, California. The Cybertruck, carrying four students, crashed into a tree and a wall, after which a fire broke out. After the impact, the electronic door handles stopped working, and passengers were trapped inside, the publication writes.
As stated, surveillance camera footage released by the California Highway Patrol showed the Cybertruck's final moments as it took a turn at high speed and appeared to lose control of the rear of the vehicle while going uphill. The video showed a large flash after the Cybertruck went out of frame.
Their friend, who was driving behind the Cybertruck in another car, stopped and after 10-15 hits with a fallen branch, managed to break the front passenger window and rescue one passenger. Unfortunately, the other three died - they suffocated from smoke and suffered severe burns.
The three college students who died were 19-year-old Krista Tsukahara and Soren Dixon, and 20-year-old Jack Nelson. Dixon was driving the car, and a post-crash investigation showed that all three were under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash. All of them were high school friends who had returned from college for Thanksgiving.
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After the accident, the Tsukahara family filed a lawsuit against the heirs of Dixon, the driver of the car. The car belonged to a relative of Dixon. The Tsukaharas have now amended their lawsuit to include Tesla as a defendant after a post-crash investigation showed that the car's design contributed to the deaths, due to door handles that are difficult to operate, as well as doors and windows that are difficult for rescuers to access. The Nelson family filed a separate lawsuit with the same accusation.
Tsukahara's parents say she "was alive after the accident. She was calling for help. And she couldn't get out." It is entirely possible that simpler door handles could have led to a different outcome, although three of the car's doors were blocked by the wall and tree it crashed into.
The right rear door, the seat occupied by Nelson, was clear, according to the Nelsons' lawsuit.
Tesla door handles
Tesla cars typically receive high scores for passenger safety in crash tests, and Tesla advertises its "armor glass" as difficult to break despite a famously failed demonstration at the Cybertruck presentation, the publication writes. And it seems that the passengers did not die from the impact itself, but from being trapped inside, from smoke and burns resulting from the accident, the publication says.
Tesla cars are equipped with electronic door handles, the exterior ones of which are flush with the car's body. This improves the sleek appearance and also results in a slight improvement in aerodynamics. However, it also leads to confusing operation, as every car released by the company so far has had a different door handle in a different location on the vehicle with a different operating method than the previous one.
This also means that exterior door handles can be difficult to open in an emergency. In this accident, a rescuer had to hit the Cybertruck's window "ten to fifteen" times after failing to break it with his fist.
In addition, the internal door unlocking system can seem confusing in an emergency. Usually, it is enough to press the internal door unlocking button, which works electronically. However, when there is a problem with the car, this system can shut down and manual unlocking will be required.
Every Tesla has a manual release mechanism, but it is often hidden in a place that passengers may not know where to look for it, or they may find it difficult to locate in an emergency, especially rear-seat passengers.
On the Cybertruck, the manual release lever for the front doors is relatively easy to access, located directly in front of the power windows. Indeed, sometimes passengers accidentally pull this lever
The rear latch is much harder to find. To access it, you need to remove the rubber mat from the map pocket, revealing a mechanical latch cable with a loop at the end, and then pull it forward.
Other Tesla vehicles have similarly hidden mechanical door locks in the rear, under the seat mat in the Model S, under the map pocket in the Model 3 and Model Y, or behind the speaker grille in the Model X.
These designs have drawn criticism and recently came under scrutiny from government agencies. NHTSA is currently investigating Tesla's door handle design, and Tesla has confirmed that it is finally redesigning its door handles.
In other parts of the world, Chinese automotive regulators are considering a ban on retractable door handles, as many new sleek electric vehicles are following the trend set by Tesla with its flush door handles.
Other lawsuits against Tesla
Several lawsuits have already been filed against Tesla over fatal accidents in its vehicles, mostly related to Autopilot or Full Self-Driving. The company usually tries to settle such cases out of court, although Elon Musk has stated that "Tesla will never give up and settle an unfair case against itself, even if it loses." At the same time, the company's refusal to settle a recent lawsuit led to a $243 million court ruling in the first case involving an advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS).
The current Cybertruck accident is not related to Autopilot, but it will now be interesting to see how Tesla responds to Nelson's lawsuits against Tesla Inc, the publication says.