The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration revealed this week that there have been 273 crashes in the past year involving self-driving eslas — a number far greater than had been previously reported.
Now, the family of 48-year-old doctor Omar Awan is blaming his Tesla in a fiery crash that resulted in the man’s death.
Police say it happened when Awan slammed into a tree in Davie, Florida, in 2019.
Emergency responders tried to get Awan out of the Tesla, but say they could not find a door handle. They also tried breaking in the windshield, but they couldn’t, because it was resistant to breakage.
Awan died in the flames.
When the all-electric Tesla is moving, the door handles recede into the body, so the metal is flush for better aerodynamics. During an accident, the handles are supposed to pop back out automatically, but Awan’s family says that didn’t happen.
According to the Davie Police report, an expert at Tesla told them, “The handles … are electronic and would not operate if power is abruptly cut in the vehicle.”
Awan’s wife, Lilliana, rushed to the scene, just blocks from their home.
“He did not die on impact. The good Samaritans who were trying to open the door from the outside weren’t able to do so. Then, they tried to break the window,” Lilliana said.
She is now suing Tesla, claiming a design flaw led to her husband’s death.
The couple had five children together, and their youngest was just 6 years old when their dad died.
When asked if she blames the car, Lilliana said, “110%, on my children’s lives. They would have had their father. I would have had my husband.”
In court filings, the company has denied it is at fault, saying the 2016 car met or exceeded industry standards.
In a statement issued right after the 2019 accident, Tesla said its “vehicles are engineered to be the safest cars in the world.”
The autopsy showed that Awan had a blood alcohol level over the legal limit, and Tesla says that he was speeding and wasn’t wearing his seat belt.
His wife says none of that is why her husband is dead.
“There was no way to get that poor human being out,” she said.
Investigators say after checking with Tesla, they don’t believe the car was on autopilot at the time of the crash.