Family sues Tesla, says autopilot failed in fatal 2024 motorcycle crash on SR 522 – KOMO
SNOHOMISH COUNTY, Wash. — The family of a 28-year-old man has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Tesla, alleging that the company’s Autopilot system failed to prevent a fatal collision.
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The lawsuit, filed Thursday, claims that a Tesla Model S, operating on Autopilot, did not detect a stopped motorcycle, resulting in the death of Jeffrey Nissen Jr. on April 19, 2024, in Snohomish County, Washington.
According to police reports, Nissen, from Stanwood, was riding his motorcycle and had stopped in traffic on State Route 522 when the Tesla, driven by Carl Hunter of Snohomish, struck him from behind.
The impact pinned Nissen under the vehicle, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Hunter, who initially expressed uncertainty about the cause of the collision, later admitted to police that he was relying on autopilot and may have been distracted by his phone.
He was arrested for vehicular homicide and booked into the Snohomish County Jail.
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The lawsuit, filed in Snohomish County Court, accuses Tesla of overstating the capabilities of its Autopilot system and failing to address its limitations, particularly in recognizing motorcycles and other small vehicles.
Simeon Osborn, the attorney representing Nissen’s estate, criticized Tesla’s marketing practices, stating, “Had the Tesla system worked as Elon Musk has touted for years, this collision would never have occurred.”
The complaint also highlights a recent California court ruling that found Tesla engaged in deceptive marketing regarding its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems.
The court ordered Tesla to cease marketing these systems as fully autonomous.
The lawsuit further alleges that Tesla’s design and marketing choices encourage drivers to over-rely on the Autopilot system, leading to dangerous situations.
Eraka Bath, MD, a professor of psychiatry at UCLA, explained that “driver alarm fatigue” can cause drivers to ignore safety alerts, a phenomenon similar to what occurs in healthcare settings.
Nissen’s father, Jeffrey Nissen Sr., who brought the lawsuit as the personal representative of his late son’s estate, expressed his grief, saying, “Jeffrey was the heart of our family. Losing him this way, under a car that should have stopped, is something we will never understand.”
Attorney Austin Neff, also representing the Nissen estate, emphasized that Tesla’s public messaging and design choices encouraged drivers to disengage from the roadway, despite the need for constant driver supervision.
The lawsuit seeks to hold Tesla accountable for what it describes as an unsafe vehicle and to drive improvements in public safety.
