The household of Krysta Tsukahara, one in every of three victims in a deadly Piedmont Tesla Cybertruck crash final November, filed a lawsuit in opposition to Tesla in an Alameda County court docket on Thursday, alleging the car’s design failed to offer a guide door to permit their daughter to flee the car.
The submitting represents an escalation within the household’s pursuit of authorized cures linked to the demise of their daughter in late November 2024, taking goal on the Cybertruck automaker which has come underneath scrutiny for eight remembers since 2024 and ongoing considerations about battery combustion.
“Her death was preventable. She was alive after the crash. She called out for help. And she couldn’t get out. We are filing this lawsuit not just for accountability, but because there are other families out there who may never know the risks until it’s too late,” Krysta’s dad and mom, Carl and Noelle Tsukahara, mentioned in an announcement.
Krysta Tsukahara, 19, died from smoke inhalation and burns suffered in a deadly automotive crash on Nov. 27, 2024, in Piedmont. Her household is suing the proprietor of the car, Charles Patterson, and the household of the driving force, Soren Dixon. Courtesy of the Tsukahara household
The Tsukaharas’ lawsuit alleges Tesla had ignored considerations from clients, bystanders and first responders concerning the firm’s reliance on digital doorways for its automobiles, based on the criticism. The lawsuit additional states that Tesla was conscious of the threats its digital doorways posed to car occupants, based on the lawsuit, however continued to “design, market and sell” automobiles with this characteristic.
“Consumers lodged dozens of complaints with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), many warning that rear-seat passengers — especially children — could be trapped inside during a crash or a fire,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit calls out Tesla founder Elon Musk for being personally conscious of the issues with Tesla automobiles’ doorways. At a 2013 earnings name, Musk acknowledged these points, saying that “occasionally the sensor would malfunction … so you’d pull on the door handle and it wouldn’t open.” Musk assured buyers that the design flaw had been mounted, whilst failures continued to occur for years, with the lawsuit citing greater than 30 examples of shoppers’ complaints about Tesla automobiles’ doorways refusing to open.
On Nov. 27, 2024, Krysta Tsukahara, after returning house for Thanksgiving break from Savannah School of Arts and Design, attended a celebration with different graduates of Piedmont Excessive Faculty. The social gathering, held at a personal residence, included alcohol consumption by minors.
Round 3 a.m., Soren Dixon, 19, satisfied Tsukahara and a handful of different partygoers to go to his house at 6861 Estates Dr. to select up a Cybertruck that was owned by his grandfather, based on court docket paperwork. Dixon drove the Cybertruck with Jack Nelson, 20, Jordan Miller, 19, and Tsukahara as his passengers as they drove alongside Hampton Avenue towards one other Piedmont residence, based on authorities.
Dixon had consumed roughly eight alcoholic drinks that night, based on an unidentified witness in a California Freeway Patrol report. Dixon’s post-mortem additionally confirmed the presence of 180 nanograms of cocaine and 55 nanograms of methamphetamine per milliliter of blood on the time of the crash.
Simply blocks away from their vacation spot, Dixon accelerated out of a cease signal, crashed right into a tree and struck a retaining wall. One other Piedmont Excessive graduate, Matt Riordan, had adopted in a car behind the Cybertruck when he stumbled on the wreck as flames started to devour the car. Riordan used a tree department to interrupt the passenger door window, the place he pulled Jordan Miller from the car. He returned moments later to avoid wasting Krysta, Nelson and Dixon.
“I could hear Krysta yelling and the car saying ‘crash detected,’ ” Riordan advised authorities, based on court docket paperwork. “I went back to the broken window and yelled for them to try to get out at this window. … Krysta tried to come up, sticking her head (out) from the back, I grabbed her arm to try and pull her towards me, but she retreated because of the fire.”
In April, the Tsukaharas filed a lawsuit in opposition to Dixon’s household, claiming they’d been barred from accessing the car and saved at midnight by the opposite households affected by the crash. The Tsukaharas alleged that Dixon “negligently and carelessly drove” the car, inflicting their daughter’s demise.
The Tsukaharas’ newest lawsuit blames Tesla, too, claiming its “negligent” door design precipitated the sudden and tragic demise of their daughter.
“Krysta was a bright light in our lives — an honors student, a creative soul, and a beloved daughter,” Carl and Noelle Tsukahara mentioned in an announcement. “We never want this to happen to anyone else.”
Initially Revealed: October 2, 2025 at 6:55 PM PDT
