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Parents of Students Killed in Accident in Piedmont, US, Claim That the Design of Tesla Cybertruck Doors Turned a Survivable Crash Into a Fatal Trap; Elon Musk’s Company Accused of Security Negligence.
Tesla, the automotive giant led by Elon Musk, is at the center of yet another controversy involving the safety of its vehicles. The families of Krysta Tsukahara, 19, and Jack Nelson, 20, have filed lawsuits against the company, accusing the automaker of designing “defective and unsafe” doors on the Tesla Cybertruck, which allegedly prevented passengers from escaping a fire following an accident that occurred in Piedmont, California, in November 2024.
The case, revealed by outlets such as The Independent and Bloomberg, describes a horrific scene: after the car collided with a tree, the vehicle’s electronic system failed, and the doors locked, trapping the occupants as the car was engulfed in flames.
The Accident That Sparked the Lawsuit
Design student at Savannah College of Art and Design, Krysta Tsukahara, was traveling in the back seat of the Cybertruck when the driver, identified as Soren Dixon, lost control of the vehicle. The impact caused an instantaneous battery fire, and the young woman could not find the manual door release mechanism.
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According to Tesla’s manual, in the event of an electrical failure, the passenger must remove the rubber mat at the base of the door, pull a mechanical release cable, and push the door. However, the process is not intuitive and inaccessible in emergency situations, say the lawyers.
The court document states that the model “lacks a functional, accessible, and visible manual emergency release mechanism,” amounting to a serious design flaw.
Testimonies and Rescue Attempts
Witnesses said that a friend of the victims, Matt Riordan, tried to rescue the occupants after the impact. When he pressed the door buttons, nothing happened. Desperate, he broke the front windshield with a tree branch and managed to pull out only the front passenger.
“Jack Nelson survived the impact. What killed him was the fact that he could not get out of the car,” stated attorney Matthew Davis, representing the Nelson family. The driver and the two rear passengers died in the fire.
Tesla Under Federal Investigation
The lawsuits come amid a new NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) investigation, the US federal road safety agency, regarding the door opening mechanisms of another Tesla model, the 2021 Model Y. The agency is looking into whether the electronic locks prevent the doors from opening in the event of an electrical failure, which would leave occupants trapped.
Tesla’s chief designer, Franz von Holzhausen, recently stated in a podcast that the company is “working on new designs that combine electronic and manual mechanisms into one, making them easier to operate in emergencies.”
Negligence Allegations and Recurring Failures
The Tsukahara family claims that Tesla has been aware of the risks for over a decade. According to the lawsuit, multiple owners and rescue teams have reported similar incidents, in which the doors locked after collisions or electrical failures.
The family’s attorney, Roger Dreyer, stated that the case “turned a survivable accident into a tragic fire death.” For him, “Tesla is a trillion-dollar company that has launched a machine on the market that is unsafe in many respects.”
The families are seeking damages for material and moral losses, as well as exemplary punishments against the company.
What Tesla Says
So far, Tesla has not responded to requests for comment made by the US press. The company has also not issued a public statement regarding the lawsuits, which are now running concurrently in California courts.
Meanwhile, pressure is mounting for regulators to adopt new safety standards specifically for electric vehicles and for Tesla to rethink the design of its models, especially the Cybertruck, a symbol of innovation, and now, also of controversy.
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