Elon Musk denies Tesla’s Autopilot caused crash that killed grandmother

Family demands Tesla preserve all evidence

On Monday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) confirmed to Ars that it is also investigating the crash.

That extra scrutiny could help the Barbours support their claims that Tesla failed to properly design Autopilot and FSD features, test for proper obstacle detection, eliminate SUA, or “implement adequate driver-engagement monitoring.”

So far, cops have “found no evidence of a mechanical malfunction,” a Houston area news outlet reported. But the family’s attorney, Chris Adkins, told the outlet that the family is determined to hold Tesla accountable to ensure no other families endure a similar loss.

“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,” Adkins said.

In the past, NHTSA “has received more than a dozen reports of Teslas slamming into parked emergency vehicles while Autopilot was active,” the lawsuit noted. Pointing to that track record, the family alleged that Tesla’s FSD and Autopilot have “a well-established inability to properly detect stationary objects.”

The lawsuit also cited a 2023 Washington Post analysis of government data that “identified at least 17 fatal incidents linked to Tesla’s Autopilot,” as well as a Post report saying that:

Tesla has a documented history of losing, withholding, or making it difficult for attorneys and other interested parties to obtain the comprehensive electronic data generated and stored in its vehicles when they are involved in severe collisions—a practice that compounds the danger Tesla’s defective systems create by obstructing accountability after crashes occur.

To ensure that Tesla maintains evidence the family believes will prove their claims, they’ve demanded that Tesla preserve all the Model 3’s component parts, its “black box” data, and its Autopilot and FSD system data, logs, and telemetry. Additionally, they want all sensor and camera data maintained, as well as any other related electronically stored information.