The parents of a second victim killed in a Tesla Cybertruck crash in Piedmont, California, have filed a lawsuit alleging a design flaw caused the deaths. The suit, filed on Thursday in Alameda County Superior Court, claims the vehicle's electric doors trapped passengers inside as the car caught fire after a high-speed collision with a tree on 27 November 2024.
The complaint, brought by Todd and Stannye Nelson on behalf of their son Jack Nelson, 20, states that Tesla knew about the defect for years but failed to fix it. 'This case arises from catastrophic design defects in the Tesla Cybertruck that turned a survivable crash into a fatal fire,' the filing reads. The driver and another passenger also died; a fourth was rescued after a window was broken.
The lawsuit follows a similar one filed on the same day by the parents of Krysta Tsukahara, 19, also a victim. Both suits allege that when the fire cut power to the electric doors, the manual release was hidden and difficult to locate. 'The backup mechanical release for that door was 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,' the Nelsons said.
The legal action comes weeks after the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into Tesla's door handles over similar complaints. Tesla has faced previous lawsuits over door handle issues, including a $243m payout in August over an Autopilot-related death in Florida.
