Wrongful death lawsuit filed in deadly, fiery Tesla crash in Mountain View

Dan Noyes Image
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
Wrongful death lawsuit filed in deadly, fiery Tesla crash in Mountain View
A lawsuit has been filed in connection with the fiery crash in Mountain View that left an Apple engineer dead.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (KGO) -- A lawsuit has been filed in connection with the fiery crash in Mountain View that left an Apple engineer dead.

TIMELINE: ABC7 investigates deadly Tesla crash on Hwy 101 in Mountain View

Attorneys for the family of Walter Huang are planning a news conference for Wednesday morning, but I-Team's Dan Noyes has obtained a copy of the wrongful death lawsuit.

It says, in part, "...the Tesla Model X was defective in its design, in that the passenger protection systems of the vehicle would not, could not, and did not perform in a manner as safely as an ordinary consumer would expect."

FULL DOCUMENT: Family of Apple engineer Walter Huang sues Tesla over Autopilot crash

March of last year, Walter was headed to his job as an Apple engineer when his Tesla Model X-- while on Autopilot-- veered into a traffic barrier Southbound 101 in Mountain View. He died later at the hospital from impact injuries; the SUV batteries, bursting into flames after the impact.

EXCLUSIVE: Wife of man who died in Tesla crash gives emotional interview to I-Team

Dan Noyes was the first to report that Walter complained to his family that on seven to 10 occasions, his Model X veered toward that same barrier while on Autopilot and that he took it to the dealer, but they could not address the issue.

Walter Huang's wife, Sevonne Huang, explained what happened in our exclusive interview.

Sevonne: "And he want to show me, but a lot of time it doesn't happen."
Dan: "He told you that the car would drive to that same barrier."
Sevonne: "Yes."
Dan: "The same barrier that he finally hit?"
Sevonne: "Yeah, that's why I saw the news I knew that's him."

Sevonne, the couple's two children, and his parents are also suing Caltrans. The safety cushion that Walter hit had been collapsed by another crash eleven days before, and if it had been in working order, the family believes he would still be alive.

EXCLUSIVE: : Victim who died in Tesla crash had complained about Autopilot

No response from Tesla late today, but last year, a spokeswoman told us, "Autopilot is intended for use only with a fully attentive driver," and that it "does not prevent all accidents-- such a standard would be impossible-- but it makes them much less likely to occur."

Take a look at full coverage on the investigation into the deadly, fiery Tesla crash by ABC7 News and the I-Team.

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