But Awan survived the collision, and he could have escaped the smoke and fire, too, Grossman said - if only the police officer who arrived on scene could have opened the car's doors. In Awan's case and in other crashes, the carmaker has argued that high-speed crashes can result in fires whether the car is powered by gasoline or batteries. 'There are a number of these cases,' Grossman said.

Several other suits have attributed deaths to Tesla's 'Autopilot' system, an automatic driver-assistance feature. The widely-shared video prompted Tesla to open an internal investigation. In April, surveillance footage from a Shanghai parking garage showed smoke billowing from a Model S moments before the car burst into flames.

A lawsuit stemming from a May 2018 crash that killed two teens also blamed a battery fire for at least one of the deaths (Grossman represents the car's third passenger, who survived the accident after being thrown from the vehicle). Tesla's public relations team did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit, filed in October, and the company's lawyers have yet to respond in court.īut shortly after the February crash, a Tesla spokeswoman told the Florida Sun-Sentinel that 'We are deeply saddened by this accident' but that 'Tesla vehicles are engineered to be the safest cars in the world and Tesla drivers have driven more than 10 billion miles to date.'Īwan's death is one in a string of recent incidents that has been blamed on Tesla's innovative technology. It's so techy, it makes you want to buy a Chevy pickup truck.' 'These things, they just love to burn,' he said.

Tesla, maker of electric vehicles, has also claimed that the Model S once achieved 'the best safety rating of any car tested.' So Awan, who could have afforded a Mercedes or another luxury vehicle, went with the 2016 Tesla. 'These Model S defects and others,' the suit says, 'rendered it a death trap.'Īwan, a 48-year-old anesthesiologist and father of five, leased the Model S for two reasons, family attorney Stuart Grossman said: he was environmentally sensitive and safety conscious. Awan beyond recognition - all because the Model S has inaccessible door handles, no other way to open the doors, and an unreasonably dangerous fire risk,' the complaint reads. 'The fire engulfed the car and burned Dr. That's because the car's retractable door handles, which are supposed to 'auto-present' when they detect a key fob nearby, malfunctioned and first responders weren't able to open the doors and save Awan, alleges a wrongful-death lawsuit.

Dr omer awan