The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) he said Wednesday that the driver of a Tesla that crashed into a house in June had pressed the gas pedal at 100 percent, bypassing the company’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software.
Data recovered from the Tesla showed the vehicle was traveling more than 70 miles per hour when it struck a home in Katy, Texas, killing 76-year-old resident Martha Avila, according to the NTSB. The victim’s family has since sued the alleged driver, 44-year-old Michael Butler, and Tesla, alleging negligence. Butler was too accused with manslaughter.
The safety board shared the information as part of a preliminary report on the progress of its investigation into the crash. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is also investigating the incident.
The data backs up Tesla’s account of the crash, which the company shared in the days after the accident to show that its advanced driver assistance system was not to blame. “[T]of [allegation] it doesn’t make sense. FSD moves slowly on neighborhood streets and this was a high speed crash!” Tesla CEO Elon Musk he wrote at X shortly after the crash.
The NTSB said Wednesday that the 44-year-old driver was using Full Self-Driving (Supervised) on Rose Hollow Lane, a two-lane residential road with a 30 mph speed limit, before the crash. Security camera footage obtained by the security panel showed the car speeding through an intersection, leaving the road and hitting the house. The weather was clear, the road was dry and daylight conditions were present, according to the NTSB.
Tesla requires drivers using Full Self-Driving (Supervised) to pay attention to the road and be ready to take control at all times. Butler reportedly told authorities he was “passed out” and that he was using Tesla’s driver assistance system. Police reportedly discovered that his Google searches included the terms “Tesla FSD not aggressive enough 2026,” “Tesla not aggressive enough” and “Tesla FSD too fiid,” according to local ABC news affiliate KTRK TV;.
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