Overview
- A Tesla Model 3 left a residential street and plowed through a brick house in Katy, Texas, striking and later killing 76‑year‑old Martha Avila; the crash occurred on Friday and left the home uninhabitable.
- The driver, identified as Michael Butler, told Harris County deputies that an automated driving‑assistance system was engaged at the time of the crash, and investigators say he showed no signs of intoxication.
- Surveillance and doorbell video obtained by local outlets show the Tesla accelerating, striking a curb, and entering the home at high speed with a nearby witness estimating 60 to 70 mph.
- Harris County investigators plan to extract the car’s event data recorder and onboard logs to confirm whether an assistance system was active and what driver inputs occurred, and the NHTSA has opened a special crash investigation.
- Tesla engineers publicly disputed that the software caused the crash, saying telemetry shows the driver pressed the accelerator to full throttle and reached about 73 mph, and the case arrives while NHTSA already probes Tesla’s Level‑2 Autopilot and Full Self‑Driving systems.