PIEDMONT, CA – The parents of a 19-year-old college student who died in a burning Tesla Cybertruck have filed a lawsuit against the electric vehicle manufacturer, alleging that faulty door design prevented their daughter from escaping the fiery wreckage.
Krysta Tsukahara, an arts student, was one of three people killed when a Cybertruck crashed into a tree near San Francisco in November 2024. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Alameda County Superior Court, claims the vehicle’s door system became a death trap when the battery caught fire following the collision.
According to the complaint, Tsukahara sustained only minor injuries from the initial impact but died from burns and smoke inhalation after becoming trapped inside the burning vehicle. Her parents allege that Tesla has known about the door design flaw for years but failed to address the safety hazard.
The lawsuit states that when a Cybertruck’s battery is damaged in a crash, the electronic door system loses power, making escape nearly impossible. While Tesla includes manual door release mechanisms, the family’s attorneys argue these releases are difficult to locate during an emergency and are not adequately explained to vehicle owners.
Four people were inside the Cybertruck at the time of the crash. Investigators determined the driver had been drinking and using drugs before losing control of the vehicle. One passenger survived after a bystander broke a window and pulled them to safety, but three occupants including the driver perished in the fire.
The lawsuit comes just weeks after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into Tesla door handle defects. The federal probe followed multiple reports of parents unable to free children trapped in the back seats of Tesla vehicles, with some forced to break windows to rescue their kids.
This is not the first wrongful death case involving Tesla’s door design. Earlier this year, the family of a Texas man who burned to death in a Cybertruck filed a similar lawsuit, claiming Michael Sheehan could not escape after a battery fire disabled the vehicle’s electronic doors.
Safety advocates have long raised concerns about Tesla’s door mechanisms, which prioritize sleek aesthetics over traditional mechanical handles. The issue has become more pressing as electric vehicle fires, while rare, can burn extremely hot and spread rapidly due to thermal runaway in lithium-ion batteries.
The Tsukahara family is seeking damages for wrongful death, alleging Tesla’s negligence and defective product design. Their attorneys argue the company should have implemented safer door systems or provided better emergency egress training to owners.
Tesla has not publicly responded to the lawsuit. The company, led by CEO Elon Musk, has faced increasing scrutiny over vehicle safety features in recent years, with a Florida jury awarding over $240 million to another family in a fatal Tesla crash case.
Door handles are only one of many Tesla safety defects. The latest e-issue of Fierce Electronics points out the significant driver distraction problem associated with touch screen controls, while noting that the major German automakers have all been moving back to tactile buttons, switches, and knobs that a driver can manipulate entirely by feel. One reason I am clinging to my 25-year-old car is that I detest touch screen controls, not only because I find them frustrating, but also because they do require a lapse in “keep your eyes on the road.” In a noisy environment, voice command isn’t much better than a touch screen.