The driver of a Tesla (TSLA.O) Model 3 that killed a 76-year-old woman when it ploughed into her home at high speed in Katy, Texas in June had overridden the vehicle’s advanced driver assistance system, the National Transportation Safety Board said on Wednesday.
The 44-year-old driver had engaged Full Self Driving (FSD) (Supervised) and manually overrode FSD by fully depressing the accelerator pedal and the 2025 model vehicle’s speed was greater than 70 mph (113 kph) when the crash occurred, the NTSB said, citing electronic data recovered from the vehicle.
The preliminary findings support Tesla’s argument that driver action caused the crash. The house is on a residential two-lane road with a 30 mph speed limit.
The NTSB has investigated numerous Tesla (TSLA.O) crashes where its driver assistance systems were in use. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is also investigating the crash.
Martha Avila died as a result of her injuries at a nearby hospital. Avila’s daughter, Jennifer Barbour, and her husband, Justin Barbour, said the Model 3’s driver, Michael Butler, told law enforcement he engaged Autopilot before plowing through the front wall of Avila’s home.
