The parents of a 19-year-old college student have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Tesla, alleging that catastrophic design defects in the Cybertruck led directly to her death. The student, Krysta Tsukahara, was a passenger in a vehicle that crashed and subsequently caught fire in November 2024.
The core of the lawsuit contends that while the initial crash forces were survivable, the vehicle's reliance on electronics turned it into a death trap. After the collision, the Cybertruck's power failed, rendering the electronic door latches inoperable. This left the conscious student unable to escape as the cabin filled with smoke and flames.
Bystanders and rescuers were thwarted by the same issue, as the truck has no external handles and the windows proved difficult to break. The suit argues that the interior manual release was not only difficult to locate but functionally useless in a panic-filled emergency situation.
This legal challenge scrutinizes Tesla's design philosophy, questioning whether the push for a futuristic, minimalist aesthetic has compromised fundamental safety principles. The family's lawyers state that Tesla had received prior notice about the risks of entrapment in its vehicles but failed to implement necessary safeguards.
The case raises broader questions for the entire auto industry regarding the balance between technological innovation and the need for redundant, non-electronic emergency systems. As cars become more like computers on wheels, this lawsuit highlights the potentially fatal consequences when advanced features fail without a simple, accessible backup.