Design flaws caused a Tesla Model 3 to suddenly accelerate out of control before it crashed into a utility pole and burst into flames, killing a woman and severely injuring her husband, a lawsuit filed in federal court alleges.
Another defect, with the door handle design, thwarted bystanders who were trying to rescue the driver, Jeff Dennis, and his wife, Wendy, from the car, according to the lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.
Wendy Dennis died in the Jan. 7, 2023, crash in Tacoma, Washington. Jeff Dennis suffered severe leg burns and other injuries, according to the lawsuit.
This is just ambulance chasing. If they made the door easier to open, then they would be suing on behalf of kids who fell out. The sudden acceleration lawsuits that decimated AUDI ended when Toyota put black boxes in all cars and could prove in court the wrong pedal was mashed. Telsa’s all have this data as well.
That doesn’t seem to be a problem for the vast majority of cars with regular handles. There’s no excuse for Tesla’s shoddy engineering. I don’t have particular comment on the acceleration thing, because I agree that seems like it could just be due to depressing the wrong pedal. The door handles are a different matter. When the car first came out, experts were saying that this would end up killing people, and whaddya know — they did.