Elon Musk denies that Tesla Autopilot caused the crash that killed his grandfather

The family wishes Tesla to keep all the evidence

On Monday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) confirmed to Ars that is also investigating the accident.

This additional review could help the Barbours support their claims that Tesla failed to properly design the Autopilot and FSD features, attempt to identify appropriate obstacles, eliminate SUA, or “pursue adequate driver monitoring.”

So far, police have “found no evidence that the system has been compromised,” a Houston reporter said report. But the family’s lawyer, Chris Adkins, told the media that the family is determined that Tesla will be held accountable to ensure that no other families will face a similar situation.

Adkins said: “They are focused on finding the truth and finding out what happened and how it happened to prevent it happening to anyone else.

In the past, NHTSA “has received more than a dozen reports of Teslas crashing into parked emergency vehicles while Autopilot was engaged,” the lawsuit said. In explaining the history, the family said that Tesla’s FSD and Autopilot “have the ability to automatically detect stationary objects.”

The lawsuit also cited a 2023 Washington Post review of government data that “identified at least 17 deaths linked to Tesla’s Autopilot,” and the Post’s report states:

Tesla has a documented history of losing, blocking, or making it difficult for prosecutors and other interested parties to access all the electronic data that is generated and stored in its vehicles when they are involved in serious collisions—a practice that includes the risk of Tesla’s wrongful actions that hinder the response in the event of an accident.

In order to ensure that Tesla preserves the evidence that the family believes will prove their claims, they have requested that Tesla preserve all Model 3 components, “black box” data, and Autopilot and FSD system data, logs, and telemetry. Additionally, they require all sensor and camera data to be managed, as well as any other information stored on the computer.