Parents of two students claim Tesla design flaw trapped them in fatal fire
The parents of two college students killed in a Tesla crash say they were trapped in the car as it burst into flames due to a design flaw that made it nearly impossible to open the doors, according to lawsuits filed Thursday.
The parents of Krysta Tsukahara and her friend, Jack Nelson, allege that the company behind Tesla, which helped Elon Musk become the world’s richest man, knew about this flaw for years. They claim Tesla could have acted faster to fix the problem but did not, leaving their children trapped amid flames and smoke that ultimately took their lives.
Tesla did not respond to requests for comment.
These new legal threats, filed in Alameda County Superior Court, come just weeks after federal regulators launched an investigation into complaints from Tesla drivers about stuck doors. The probe and lawsuit arrive at a sensitive time for Tesla, as the company aims to convince Americans that its vehicles will soon be safe enough to operate without a driver behind the wheel.
According to the lawsuits, Tsukahara, 19, and Nelson, 20, were in the back of a Cybertruck in November 2024 when the driver—who was intoxicated and under the influence of drugs—crashed into a tree in Piedmont, California, a suburb of San Francisco. The driver also died in the accident. A fourth passenger was rescued after a bystander broke a window and pulled them out.
The Tsukahara lawsuit was first reported by The New York Times.
Tesla doors have been at the center of several crash cases due to the car’s battery-powered unlocking mechanism, which can be destroyed in a fire. Additionally, the manual door release mechanisms designed to override this system are reportedly difficult to locate.
This lawsuit follows several others alleging various safety problems with Tesla vehicles. In August, a Florida jury awarded more than USD 240 million in damages to the family of another college student killed by a runaway Tesla years ago.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which opened its stuck-door investigation last month, is reviewing complaints from drivers who found they could not open rear doors to retrieve their children after exiting their vehicles. In some instances, parents had to break windows to reach their kids.
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