The lawsuits against Tesla seemed likely after three college students died in a burning Cybertruck in Piedmont, and the parents of the victims say the doors of the Cybertruck would not open as the vehicle burned.
There was a heartbreaking local news story as we headed into the Thanksgiving holiday last year when we learned the three college students on break were killed in the crash of a Tesla Cybertruck (a fourth student in the car survived). The Cybertruck hit a cement wall and burst into flames, killing the three 19 year-old Piedmont high grads, Soren Dixon, Jack Nelson, and Krysta Tsukahara.
It eventually came out in toxicology reports that all three had cocaine and alcohol in their systems, and the driver Dixon had meth in his system too, plus was driving at well above the legal alcohol limit. But it also came out that a California Highway Investigation produced testimony that the doors of the Tesla stopped working as the vehicle burned, possibly trapping the victims inside.
The one surviving victim Matt Riordan said in his testimony to the CHP that he pulled on the doors “for a few seconds, but nothing budged at all.” He also testified that “I then tried the button on the windshield of Jordan's door, then Krysta’s door,” with neither opening.
And notably, Krysta Tsukahara’s parents claim that she died from smoke inhalation and burns she sustained in the fire, rather than any injuries endured in the crash itself. That’s just one revelation in the Chronicle report that Tsukahara and Nelson’s parents are both suing Tesla for wrongful death over the crash, in an Alameda County court.
“Tesla knows that it’s happened and that it’s going to happen, and they are doing nothing but selling the car with a system that entraps people and doesn’t provide a way of extraction,” the Tsukaharas’ attorney Roger Dreyer tod the Chronicle. “This vehicle absolutely should not have entombed these individuals and my clients’ daughter. It’s our way of holding the wrongdoer accountable, and correcting bad conduct.”
Tsukahara’s parents had previously sued the driver Soren Dixon’s estate, as well as the estates of his grandparents, who owned the Cybertruck. Though it seems that lawsuit was just to get access to the charred vehicle itself for investigative purposes. The wrongful death charges against Tesla are an extension of the same lawsuit, though as you would imagine, the family is asking that Tesla pay out financial damages.
And they do have a proven point. Tesla Cybertruck doors are powered by a 12-volt battery, one that does not work if the vehicle loses its power. The lawsuit says the manual latch to open the door is not readily visible and is hard to find.
The lawsuit also cites nearly three dozen examples of Tesla drivers experiencing dangerous technical glitches with the battery-powered door system. Tesla themselves admitted the doors need to be redesigned just last month.
Image: City of Piedmont
