Family sues Tesla over fatal Autopilot crash
The family of Giovanni Mendoza Martinez, who died in a February 2023 crash while driving a Tesla Model S with Autopilot engaged, is suing Tesla and Elon Musk, alleging the Autopilot system failed to detect a fire truck and that Tesla made deceptive marketing claims about the technology's self-driving capabilities. Tesla denies responsibility and attributes the crash to driver negligence.
What happened
Giovanni Mendoza Martinez, 31, died in a February 18, 2023 crash on Interstate 680 in California while driving a used Tesla Model S with Autopilot engaged at 71 miles per hour. The vehicle failed to detect and avoid a fire truck, resulting in a collision.
The Mendoza family, represented by attorney Brett Schreiber, filed a lawsuit in California Northern District Court alleging that Tesla's Autopilot feature was defective and that the company made deceptive marketing claims about the technology's capabilities. The lawsuit claims Giovanni believed Tesla and Elon Musk's assertions that the vehicle could safely drive itself based on public statements and marketing.
Reported impact
Giovanni Mendoza was crushed to death in the crash. His brother Caleb was severely injured in the wreck.
The lawsuit alleges first responders were injured at the scene. Attorney Schreiber stated the deaths and injuries were entirely preventable.
Index analysis
The lawsuit highlights Tesla's history of overstating self-driving capabilities, citing thousands of complaints and recalls involving Autopilot. Between 2015 and 2022, Tesla received over 1000 crash reports and 3000 complaints about sudden braking or acceleration.
In October, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a probe into Tesla's Full Self-Driving system after the company reported four crashes in low-visibility conditions. The lawsuit accuses Tesla of neglecting to fix known issues and misleading customers while Musk made claims such as Autopilot being probably better than human drivers.
Governance controls
Tesla denied responsibility for the crash and suggested it may have resulted from driver negligence. The company stated the vehicle has a reasonably safe design and that no additional warnings would have prevented the incident.
Attorney Schreiber argued that Tesla uses public roads for testing autonomous driving technology without issuing proper recalls for defective systems, simply releasing software updates instead.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.