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Tesla sues over Model S crash in New Jersey that killed 3

The estates of the three people who died in September last year when their 2024 Model S equipped Autopilot and Full Self-Driving Features crashed on New Jersey’s Garden State Parkway, Tesla was sued by the estates on Monday.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Camden in New Jersey, blamed the deaths of David Dryerman (54), his wife Michele (54), and their daughter Brooke (17) on the "defective design and unreasonable danger" of the vehicle.

Max Dryerman is Brooke's elder brother. He was not in that car and is also a defendant. The lawsuit is seeking unspecified punitive and compensatory damages. Tesla, led Elon Musk by billionaire Elon Musk did not respond immediately to requests for comments after market hours. Plaintiffs' attorneys did not respond immediately to similar requests.

Musk's Austin-based company has faced concerns about its self driving technology for years. Tesla says that its features are designed for "fully-attentive" drivers who keep their hands on steering wheels, and they do not make the vehicles autonomous. Tesla, under pressure from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), agreed to recall in December 2023 more than 2,000,000 vehicles in the United States in order to add safety measures to its Autopilot advanced driving-assistance system (ADAS).

According to published reports the Dryermans, who were returning from a concert festival in Woodbridge Township (New Jersey) on September 14, 2024 when their Model S ran of the road, striking a sign and guardrail, as well as a concrete bridge support, hit the road.

The complaint stated that the defective design of the car caused it to drift from its lane and failed to apply emergency brakes, which resulted in the accident.

The lawsuit also claimed that Tesla failed to warn David Dryerman who was driving that his Model S Model S was unsafe. It cited Musk's 2016 statement that Autopilot is "probably better than human drivers".

According to the complaint, The Dryermans wore seat belts.

The complaint stated that "Thousands of Tesla Drivers have relied upon Tesla's ADAS Technology as though it was capable of safe and fully autonomous self driving with minor software upgrades when it is in fact incapable of safely handling a range of routine road scenarios without driver input."

Dryerman et al v Tesla Inc., U.S. District Court District of New Jersey No. 25-11997. (Reporting and editing by Les Adler, Matthew Lewis, and Jonathan Stempel from New York)

(source: Reuters)