The parents of a college student in a Tesla crash say she was killed by flames and smoke as she tried but failed to escape the burning car because of a design flaw making it difficult to open the doors in fires, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday.
The parents of Krysta Tsukahara allege that the company that has helped Elon Musk become the worlds richest man knew about the flaw for years and could have moved fast to fix the problem but did not, leaving the 19-year-old arts student to die in horrible way burned from the flames and suffocating in the fumes.
Tesla did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
The new legal threat to Tesla filed in Alameda County Superior Court comes just weeks after federal regulators opened an investigation into complaints by Tesla drivers of stuck-door problem. The probe and suit come at a delicate time for the company as it seeks to convince Americans that its cars will soon be safe enough to ride in without anyone in the drivers seat.
Tsukahara was in the back of a Cybertruck when the driver who was drunk and had taken drugs smashed into a tree in a suburb of San Francisco, according to the suit. Three of the four people in the car, including the driver, died. A fourth was pulled from the car after a rescuer smashed a window and reached in.
The lawsuit was first reported by The New York Times.
The flaw allegedly doesnt allow the door to open when the battery powering it is destroyed in a fire or otherwise doesnt work and the manual releases that override the battery locks are difficult to find.
The lawsuit follows several others that have claimed various safety problems with Tesla cars. In August, a Florida jury decided in favor of the family of another dead college student, this one killed by a runaway Tesla years ago, and was awarded more than $240 million in damages.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which opened its stuck-door investigation last month, is looking into complaints by drivers that after exiting their cars they couldnt open back doors to get their children out and, in some cases, had to break the window to reach them.
周四提交的诉讼文件显示，一名在特斯拉车祸中丧生的大学生的父母称，由于车辆设计缺陷导致起火时车门难以打开，他们的女儿在试图逃离燃烧的车辆时被火焰和浓烟夺去了生命。
冢原克莉丝塔（Krysta Tsukahara）的父母指控称，这家助力埃隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）成为世界首富的公司多年来知晓该缺陷，本可迅速采取行动解决问题却未予理会，导致这名19岁的艺术系学生以惨烈方式丧生——被火焰灼烧并在浓烟中窒息而亡。
特斯拉公司未立即回应置评请求。
特斯拉近日在阿拉米达县高等法院面临新的法律诉讼，而就在数周前，联邦监管机构已针对特斯拉车主反映的车门卡死问题展开调查。此次调查与诉讼正值该公司的敏感时期——其正试图说服美国公众，他们的车辆将很快实现无需人类驾驶员的安全自动驾驶。
诉讼文件显示，塚原（Tsukahara）当时坐在一辆Cybertruck的后座，司机因酒驾并吸食毒品，在旧金山郊区撞上一棵树。车上四人中包括司机在内的三人当场死亡，第四名乘客由救援人员砸破车窗后拖出。
这起诉讼案件最初由《纽约时报》报道。
据称，该缺陷会导致当为门供电的电池在火灾中被烧毁或失效时，门无法打开，且覆盖电池锁的手动释放装置难以找到。
此次诉讼之前，已有多起案件指控特斯拉汽车存在各类安全隐患。今年8月，佛罗里达州陪审团就裁定另一起多年前特斯拉失控致死大学生案，判决支持遇难学生家属的诉求，裁定赔偿金额超过2.4亿美元。
美国国家公路交通安全管理局上月启动了对车门卡死问题的调查。该机构正在核查驾驶员投诉，投诉称他们在下车后无法打开后门接出孩子，部分情况下甚至不得不破窗施救。
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