Design flaws caused a Tesla Model 3 to suddenly spin out of control before crashing into a utility pole and catching fire, killing a woman and seriously injuring her husband, a lawsuit filed in federal court alleges.
Another defect in the door handle design hindered bystanders who tried to rescue the driver, Jeff Dennis, and his wife, Wendy, from the car, according to the lawsuit filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
Wendy Dennis died in the January 7, 2023 crash in Tacoma, Washington. According to the lawsuit, Jeff Dennis suffered severe leg burns and other injuries.
Messages left Monday with attorneys for the plaintiffs and Tesla were not immediately returned.
The lawsuit seeks damages in California since Dennis’ 2018 Model 3 was designed and manufactured there. Tesla was also headquartered in California at the time before later moving to Texas.
Among other financial claims, the lawsuit seeks wrongful death damages for both Jeff Dennis and his late wife’s estate. A jury trial is requested.
Tesla doors have been at the center of several crash cases because the battery that powers the unlocking mechanism shuts down in the event of a crash, and the manual releases that override that system are notoriously difficult to find.
Last month, the parents of two California students killed in a Tesla crash sued the automaker, saying the students were trapped in the vehicle when it caught fire because of a design flaw that prevented them from opening the doors. In September, federal regulators opened an investigation into complaints from Tesla drivers about problems with sticking doors.
Jeff and Wendy Dennis were running errands when the Tesla suddenly accelerated for at least five seconds. Jeff Dennis swerved to miss other vehicles before the car struck the utility pole and burst into flames, the lawsuit said.
The automatic emergency braking system did not engage before hitting the pole, the lawsuit alleges, even though it is designed to brake when a frontal collision is deemed unavoidable.
Bystanders were unable to open the doors because the handles do not work from the outside as they also rely on battery power. The doors also could not be opened from the inside because the battery was disabled due to the fire, and a manual override button is difficult to find and use, the lawsuit alleges.
The heat of the fire prevented bystanders from getting close enough to try to break the windows.
Faulty battery chemistry and battery pack design unnecessarily increased the risk of a catastrophic fire after impact with the pole, the lawsuit alleges.
Thiessen reported from Anchorage, Alaska.
—Mark Thiessen, Associated Press
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