US opens second federal investigation of deadly Tesla crash into Texas home

Federal regulators have opened a second investigation into a fatal Tesla crash in Katy, Texas, that killed a 76-year-old resident on June 19, as the victim’s family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit alleging the company’s driver-assistance systems were defective [1]. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced its inquiry on Wednesday, two days after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) confirmed it was also investigating the wreck [1]. The NTSB said it was working in coordination with the Harris County sheriff’s department [1]. The crash occurred when a Tesla Model 3 struck a home in the Houston suburb, fatally injuring Martha Avila [1]. The driver, Michael Butler, told law enforcement he had engaged Autopilot before the vehicle plowed through the front wall, according to Avila’s daughter and son-in-law [1]. Attorneys for Avila’s family filed a civil complaint on Tuesday in Texas state court, alleging gross negligence and failure to warn that the “autopilot” and “full self-driving” systems were defective [1]. The suit seeks more than $1m in damages plus punitive damages, and names both Tesla and Butler as defendants [1]. Tesla and CEO Elon Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment [1]. Musk defended the company on X, writing: “FSD drives slowly through neighborhood streets and this was a high speed crash!” [1]. Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s vice-president of artificial intelligence software, posted separately that “the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100% of the accel pedal in this residential area” [1]. The new probes add to years of federal scrutiny of Tesla’s driver-assistance technology. Since 2016, NHTSA has opened nearly 50 special investigations into Tesla crashes believed to involve advanced driver-assistance systems, with about two dozen deaths reported [1]. In March, NHTSA escalated an investigation into 3.2m Teslas equipped with Full Self-Driving, concerned the system may fail to detect or warn drivers in poor visibility [1]. Tesla in 2023 recalled about 2m cars to better ensure drivers pay attention when using Autopilot [1]. Tesla Autopilot, a Level 2 advanced driver-assistance system, was released in October 2015, and the first fatal crashes involving the system occurred less than a year later [2]. As of October 2025, there have been hundreds of nonfatal incidents and sixty-five reported fatalities, fifty-four of which NHTSA investigations or expert testimony later verified [2]. Two of those fatalities were determined by NHTSA’s Office of Defect Investigations to have occurred during Full Self-Driving engagement after 2022 [2]. Those cases culminated in a general recall in December 2023 of all vehicles equipped with Autopilot, which Tesla said it resolved with an over-the-air software update; NHTSA opened a recall query in April 2024 to assess the update’s effectiveness [2]. Tesla has been the subject of lawsuits, boycotts, and government scrutiny over safety defects leading to dozens of recalls, as well as criticism of its workplace practices and Musk’s public statements [3][4]. The company’s Full Self-Driving software also underpins its recently launched Robotaxi ride-hailing service, which began limited operations in Austin on June 22, 2025, with a human safety monitor in the front passenger seat [6]. Early riders documented incidents including the vehicle driving on the wrong side of the road and committing traffic violations that prompted an NHTSA investigation [6].