Image: APA/AFP/CHRIS DELMAS
A majority of the jury concluded on Tuesday that the vehicle had no manufacturing defect. The ruling is a significant victory for the electric car maker, which faces several similar lawsuits in the United States.
The case before a California court involved an accident involving a Tesla Model 3. The car left the road on a highway at 105 kilometers per hour in 2019, hit a palm tree and burst into flames. The driver, Micah Lee, was killed and two passengers were seriously injured.
System still in beta phase
The passengers sued Tesla, accusing the carmaker of knowing when it sold the vehicle that the autopilot and other safety systems were faulty. When Lee bought the Tesla package with all self-driving capabilities for his Model 3 in 2019 for $6,000, the system was still in the beta phase and therefore not ready for general use.
- Article on the topic: US accident investigators examine new Tesla truck crash (March 2019)
- From the archive: Two dead in accident with presumably driverless Tesla (April 2021)
Tesla argued that human error caused the accident. Lee drank alcohol before getting behind the wheel. It is also unclear whether the autopilot was switched on at the time of the accident.
After four days of deliberations, nine of the twelve jurors voted for Tesla. There was initially no comment from Tesla and the plaintiffs.
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