In May 2018, 18-year-old driver Barrett Riley died in a serious Tesla crash in the United States. Tesla CEO Elon Musk emailed Riley’s father for weeks afterward and helped update the speed limit safety feature at the request of the grieving father.
Still, nearly two years after the emails went back and forth, Riley Sr. filed a product liability lawsuit against Tesla in federal court in Florida. The indictment said his Tesla car battery suddenly went out of control and caused a fatal fire” after the crash. Barrett died of a battery fire, not an accident.
The indictment shows that two months before the accident, Riley Sr. asked Tesla to install a speed limiter in the car for his son’s safety, but the device was not used when the car was sent to Tesla for repair. removed as permitted.
If it wasn’t for Tesla’s negligence, the speed limiter could have avoided the accident and “Barrett would be alive today,” the indictment said.
Tesla, in response to the lawsuit, denied that its batteries had design flaws. The company also said that Riley Jr. returned to the service center in-person “due to concerns about the vehicle’s acceleration performance” and requested that the speed limiter be removed.
Court records show the case will go to trial this year, and Tesla has yet to comment. It is reported that on May 8, 2018, Riley was driving his father’s Tesla Model S, lost control at 116 miles (about 187 kilometers) per hour, and crashed into the concrete of a house in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The wall, the car then caught fire, and Riley and his co-pilot friend lost their lives.
The next day, Musk sent an email to Riley’s father, James Riley, in which Musk expressed his condolences over Riley Jr.’s death and asked Riley Sr. if he would like to talk.
“There is nothing worse than losing a child,” he wrote at the time. Riley Sr. initially replied that he was open to the offer, but later said he and his wife were not ready to talk about it.
Musk replied, “I understand, my eldest son died in my arms and I can feel his last heartbeat.” Musk was referring to his son Nevada Alexander Musk. , who died when he was 10 weeks old.
In addition, Musk also complied with the request of the old Riley, updating the vehicle settings to make it easier for parents to control the top speed of the vehicle.
In June 2018, Tesla’s vehicle software was updated to allow drivers to use a four-digit personal identification number to set the vehicle’s top speed between 50 miles per hour and 90 miles per hour (about 80 miles per hour) through the APP or user interface. -145 km/h).
Tesla has also updated the text in the owner’s manual, saying the feature is in honor of Riley Jr.