A Texas family is suing Tesla after a Model 3 traveling at over 70 miles per hour crashed into a suburban home in Harris County last week, killing 76-year-old Martha Avila. The driver, 44-year-old Michael Butler, told police he had Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) feature — known as FSD — engaged at the time of the crash. Butler showed no signs of intoxication, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.
Avila’s daughter and son-in-law, Justin Barbour — who was also in the home and injured in the crash — filed suit in Harris County District Court on Tuesday, June 24, 2026. The lawsuit alleges Tesla’s FSD feature “was defective in design and unreasonably dangerous.”
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment, but the company’s Vice President of AI Software, Ashok Elluswamy, posted on X that Tesla data showed Butler “manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100 percent” and “had the accelerator pressed even after the crash.” CEO Elon Musk posted that the suggestion Tesla’s technology played a role “makes no sense.”
FSD is designed to handle tasks such as navigating city and residential roads, stopping at traffic signals, and changing lanes, but requires drivers to remain attentive and ready to intervene. Critics argue that because the system generally performs well, drivers may become less prepared to take over when it fails — a concern legal experts say could factor into Tesla’s liability.
“If the product is designed in a way that it leaves drivers vulnerable to situations where suddenly the system is not working and they’ve lost situational awareness, Tesla could be found responsible,” said Matthew Wansley, a professor at Yeshiva University’s Cardozo School of Law who studies automotive technology.
The case follows a precedent-setting 2025 Florida verdict in which a jury found Tesla one-third responsible for a fatal Autopilot crash, awarding $243 million in damages — a verdict a judge upheld earlier this year. The outcome of the Texas lawsuit could carry similar financial and legal consequences for the automaker.
Source: WIRED