This Wednesday, a 44-year-old man was arrested for crashing his Tesla into a house, killing a septuagenarian man.is July 2026 and placed in the Harris County Jail, Texas (USA). Charged with manslaughter after the death of a 76-year-old victim, he made sure his car was in automatic driving assist mode, reports Reuters .
The accident occurred on June 19 at about 8 pm in a suburb of Houston. The man was driving a Tesla Model 3 and apparently drifted out of his lane before crashing into the front of a house at more than 110 km/h, reports USA today . Under the force of the impact, the car drove into a residential building and hit a pensioner, who died from her injuries in the hospital.
Complaint about Tesla
According to the arrest report, the driver said that during the delivery he changed the music on his car’s touch screen and then “lost consciousness”. Then his speed would have exceeded twice the legal limit, and the car would not have braked before impact. No traces of alcohol or drugs were found in his body either.
Not enough to convince the victim’s family. His relatives filed a complaint not only against the driver for negligence, but also against Tesla. They accuse the manufacturer of liability for defects in the vehicle’s design and warnings, particularly relating to its Autopilot system. In support of these allegations, the victim’s family cites in their complaint data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), published by the agency. Washington Post WHO “at least 17 fatal accidents related to Tesla’s Autopilot system have been identified”as well as 736 accidents since 2019.
“Absurd” novel according to Elon Musk
The company, founded by Elon Musk, disputed the substance of the complaint. The billionaire even tried this case “absurd” on his social networks. “FSD (Fully Autonomous Driving) drives slowly on residential streets and it’s a high speed accident!” the billionaire said in a post on X. In 2023, NHTSA announced a recall of more than 2 million Tesla vehicles due to problems with the Autopilot function.
Yes, that makes no sense. The FSD was driving slowly through the surrounding streets and it was a high speed accident!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 22, 2026
The victim’s family is seeking more than a million dollars in damages. “She was the best grandmother anyone could ask for. A second mother to my children, a true blessing.”her daughter said USA today.