Tesla driver in fatal Texas crash overrode driver assistance system: NTSB

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A Tesla driver in a fatal Texas crash overrode the car’s driver assistance system, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said Wednesday.

The NTSB said in its preliminary findings that in mid-June, a 2025 Tesla Model 3 driven by a 44-year-old in Katy, Texas, left the road, went onto a driveway and hit a residence.

At the time of the crash, the car was in “Full Self Driving” (FSD) mode, according to the NTSB. The car’s data signaled that the driver pushed on the accelerator pedal at 100 percent, overriding the “Full Self Driving” mode, prior to the crash. The data also suggested the car was going faster than 70 miles per hour as the crash happened, per the agency.

“As a result of the crash, an occupant in the residence was fatally injured and the driver sustained minor injuries,” the NTSB said.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk last month pushed back on allegations that his company’s full self-driving software was involved in the crash, which killed a Texas woman.

Martha Avila, 76, died after the Tesla drove through her home. Police and the driver had indicated that Tesla’s automated driving assistance system was on during the accident, per a lawsuit from Avila’s daughter.

“Yes, this makes no sense,” Musk wrote in a June post on the social platform X. “FSD drives slowly through neighborhood streets and this was a high speed crash!”

Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s vice president of AI software, previously asserted that the driver “manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100% of the accel pedal in this residential area.”

The Hill has reached out to Tesla for comment.

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