Second Lawsuit Filed Against Tesla Following Fatal cybertruck Crash in California
Alameda County,CA – Tesla is facing a second lawsuit stemming from a November 2024 Cybertruck crash in Piedmont,California,that resulted in multiple fatalities,including 20-year-old Jack Nelson.The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Alameda county Superior Court by Jack Nelson’s parents, Todd and Stannye Nelson, alleges catastrophic design defects in the vehicle turned a survivable accident into a deadly fire. This comes just days after the parents of another victim, 19-year-old Krysta Tsukahara, filed a similar suit against the automaker.
The lawsuit claims Tesla was aware of flaws in the Cybertruck’s design for years, specifically concerning the electric door handles, but failed to address them promptly. According to the complaint, the doors became inoperable after the vehicle crashed into a tree at high speed and caught fire, trapping the passengers inside. The driver also perished in the crash, while a fourth passenger was rescued after a rescuer broke a window.
“The Cybertruck’s design left Jack and the other occupants wiht no practical way to escape,” the Nelsons stated in a statement released alongside the filing. “The four young people in the Cybertruck were close friends and outstanding individuals, each on the verge of making meaningful contributions to the world. They were all victims of Tesla’s unsafe design. Their deaths and injuries have devastated everyone who knew them.”
The lawsuit highlights the difficulty of using the Cybertruck’s manual door release, which the Nelsons describe as “concealed beneath the liner of the map pocket at the bottom of the door – hidden, unlabeled, and impractical to locate or use in the smoke and chaos of a post-crash fire.”
This legal action arrives amid increased scrutiny of Tesla’s electric door handle design. The National Highway traffic Safety Governance (NHTSA) recently opened an examination into the system, which is designed to be flush with the vehicle’s body, following complaints from drivers unable to open back doors to reach children and, in some instances, being forced to break windows.
The cybertruck lawsuits add to a growing number of legal challenges facing Tesla over vehicle safety. In August, a Florida jury ordered Tesla to pay $243 million in damages to the family of a 22-year-old woman killed in a crash involving a Tesla operating in Autopilot mode.
Tesla has not yet responded to requests for comment regarding the latest lawsuits.
