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Tesla Driver Accelerated Into House in Fatal Texas Crash, NTSB Says
NTSB data says the driver pressed the accelerator to 100% as the Tesla sped more than 70 mph into a house, killing Martha Avila.
- On Wednesday, the National Transportation Safety Board reported that the driver of a Tesla Model 3 involved in a June 19 fatal crash in Katy, Texas, manually overrode the vehicle's Full Self-Driving system, killing 76-year-old Martha Avila.
- Electronic data indicates 44-year-old driver Michael Butler manually overrode the system by pressing the accelerator pedal to 100%, reaching speeds greater than 70 mph on a residential road with a 30 mph limit.
- Tesla's vice president of AI software, Ashok Elluswamy, previously stated the driver manually overrode the software, and the NTSB's preliminary findings corroborate Tesla's account that driver action caused the crash.
- Following the incident, Harris County law enforcement charged Butler with manslaughter, and Avila's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against both the driver and Tesla, alleging negligence.
- The NTSB plans to issue safety recommendations to prevent similar crashes, while the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration continues investigating nearly 50 Tesla incidents involving advanced driver assistance systems since 2016.
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The IndependentReposted by 
The Independent (US)
The Independent (US)The Tesla that killed a woman inside her home was traveling more than 70 mph
The Tesla driver who killed a 76-year-old woman when it plowed into her home at high speed in June had overridden the vehicle's advanced driver assistance system, the NTSB said
·London, United Kingdom
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NTSB findings on fatal Tesla crash tell a very different story
The National Transportation Safety Board released preliminary findings Wednesday confirming that a Tesla driver, not the vehicle’s software, caused a fatal crash in Katy, Texas in June. The driver, 44-year-old Michael Butler, had engaged Full Self-Driving Supervised mode on Rose Hollow Lane, a residential street with a 30 mph speed limit, before manually overriding the system by pressing the accelerator pedal all the way to 100%. Data recovered …
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Total News Sources16
Leaning Left4Leaning Right2Center7Last UpdatedBias Distribution54% Center
Bias Distribution
- 54% of the sources are Center
54% Center
L 31%
C 54%
15%
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