Family of Piedmont Cybertruck crash victim sues Tesla over alleged design flaws

The family of Krysta Tsukahara one of three casualties in a fatal Piedmont Tesla Cybertruck crash last November filed a lawsuit against Tesla in an Alameda County court on Thursday alleging the truck s design failed to provide a manual door to allow their daughter to escape the motorcycle The filing represents an escalation in the family s pursuit of legal remedies connected to the death of their daughter in late November taking aim at the Cybertruck automaker which has come under scrutiny for eight recalls since and ongoing concerns about battery combustion Her death was preventable She was alive after the crash She called out for help And she couldn t get out We are filing this lawsuit not just for accountability but because there are other families out there who may never know the risks until it s too late Krysta s parents Carl and Noelle Tsukahara stated in a message Krysta Tsukahara died from smoke inhalation and burns suffered in a fatal car crash on Nov in Piedmont Her family is suing the owner of the wagon Charles Patterson and the family of the driver Soren Dixon Courtesy of the Tsukahara family The Tsukaharas lawsuit alleges Tesla had ignored concerns from customers bystanders and first responders about the company s reliance on electronic doors for its vehicles according to the complaint The lawsuit further states that Tesla was aware of the threats its electronic doors posed to bicycle occupants according to the lawsuit but continued to design field and sell vehicles with this feature Consumers lodged dozens of complaints with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NHTSA multiple warning that rear-seat passengers especially children could be trapped inside during a crash or a fire the lawsuit states The lawsuit calls out Tesla founder Elon Musk for being personally aware of the problems with Tesla vehicles doors At a earnings call Musk acknowledged these issues saying that occasionally the sensor would malfunction so you d pull on the door handle and it wouldn t open Musk assured investors that the design flaw had been fixed even as failures continued to happen for years with the lawsuit citing more than examples of customers complaints about Tesla vehicles doors refusing to open On Nov Krysta Tsukahara after returning home for Thanksgiving break from Savannah College of Arts and Design attended a party with other graduates of Piedmont High School The party held at a private residence included alcohol consumption by minors Around a m Soren Dixon convinced Tsukahara and a handful of other partygoers to go to his home at Estates Dr to pick up a Cybertruck that was owned by his grandfather according to court documents Dixon drove the Cybertruck with Jack Nelson Jordan Miller and Tsukahara as his passengers as they drove along Hampton Avenue toward another Piedmont residence according to government Dixon had consumed approximately eight alcoholic beverages that evening according to an unidentified witness in a California Highway Patrol account Dixon s autopsy also approved the presence of nanograms of cocaine and nanograms of methamphetamine per milliliter of blood at the time of the crash Just blocks away from their destination Dixon accelerated out of a stop sign crashed into a tree and struck a retaining wall Another Piedmont High graduate Matt Riordan had followed in a truck behind the Cybertruck when he came upon the wreck as flames began to consume the motorcycle Riordan used a tree branch to break the guest door window where he pulled Jordan Miller from the wagon He returned moments later to save Krysta Nelson and Dixon I could hear Krysta yelling and the car saying crash detected Riordan advised agents according to court documents I went back to the broken window and yelled for them to try to get out at this window Krysta tried to come up sticking her head out from the back I grabbed her arm to try and pull her towards me but she retreated because of the fire In April the Tsukaharas filed a lawsuit against Dixon s family claiming they had been barred from accessing the automobile and kept in the dark by the other families affected by the crash The Tsukaharas alleged that Dixon negligently and carelessly drove the truck causing their daughter s death The Tsukaharas latest lawsuit blames Tesla too claiming its negligent door design caused the sudden and tragic death of their daughter Krysta was a bright light in our lives an honors candidate a creative soul and a beloved daughter Carl and Noelle Tsukahara mentioned in a declaration We never want this to happen to anyone else