The 19 -year -old student Krysta Tsukahara’s family filed a lawsuit against Tesla, claiming that the design of the doors of the Cybertruck model made it difficult to escape during a fatal accident in California. The information is from the newspaper The New York Times.
According to the lawsuit, the young woman was trapped in the flames after a collision, unable to escape due to the complexity of the manual opening mechanism of the doors.
The accident occurred in Piedmont, near San Francisco, when Cybertruck driver Soren Dixon lost control of the vehicle and collided with a tree at high speed.
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Dixon, 19, and another passenger, Jack Nelson, 20, also died in the accident. Krysta suffered minor wounds in the collision, but died due to burns and smoke inhalation, according to the process.
The lawsuit points out that Cybertruck does not have a manual release system of the doors that is functional, accessible and visible, which would have prevented the girl from escaping the fire. A friend who was following another car managed to save a passenger room by breaking the vehicle window with a branch.
The family states that Tesla was aware of the risks associated with the electronic system of the doors, but did not take steps to correct the problem.
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The case occurs amid an investigation by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Tesla’s electronic doors failures, which have already resulted in reports of trapped children and need to break glass for rescue.
Other automakers, such as Ford, Toyota, and Jeep, have adopted systems that allow manual opening of emergency doors, unlike Cybertruck.
Tesla has not yet spoken out about the process. The company may argue that the accident was caused by the driver, that it was under the influence of alcohol and drugs, and that damage to the vehicle may have prevented the opening of the doors.
