Breitbart: A lawsuit recently filed against Tesla accuses Elon Musk’s car company of negligence following the death of two teenagers and injury of third in a fiery crash in 2017, alleging the company installed a defective battery pack and removed a speed limiter installed in the car.
Barrett Riley, the 18-year-old owner and driver of the 2014 Tesla Model S in question, was burned to death following a crash in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, alongside his passenger, 18-year-old Edgar Monserratt Martinez. A third passenger in the rear seat survived after being injured following ejection from the vehicle.
Riley crashed into a wall at high speed, then rebounded into a light pole on the other side of the road. His car then erupted into flames.
Tesla is now being sued by Chicago-based law firm Corboy and Demetrio.
Reuters reported:
Last May, a Tesla driven by Barrett Riley with passenger Edgar Monserratt Martinez crashed into a concrete wall and erupted in flames in Fort Lauderdale, Florida killing both the teenagers, according to the lawsuit.
Less than two months before the crash, Riley’s parents had a limiter installed at a Tesla service center to prevent the vehicle from reaching over 85 mph, but it was removed at another Tesla service visit without his parents’ knowledge, the law firm said here
An additional count in the lawsuit alleges Tesla was negligent in the removal of the limiter.
It added that Riley was driving the vehicle at 116 mph, immediately before the collision.
The lawsuit was filed by a law firm representing the estate of Edgar Monserratt Martinez. The law firm claimed that at least a dozen cases had been reported of Tesla S batteries catching fire in collisions and while stationary over the past five years. MORE
Looks like he owned the car and was 18 years old. He can do whatever he wants with it, without parents being notified.
Sounds like a case of bad parenting to me.
I have read that Tesla crashes and problems are in line with other, gas-powered cars. I don’t know for sure. I do wonder about the safety of the batteries.
You’re not allowed to fly with lithium batteries, why drive with them?
^^^^ that. Can’t even put them in the mail.
If you crash at 116 MPH and the car was constructed of razor blades and glass, it ain’t the manufacturers fault you died.
Witness recounts watching Tesla crash that killed two high school seniors
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fort-lauderdale/99045746-132.html
And I’m supposed to feel bad about this incident? Sorry, but it sounds like parents of a rich and spoiled brat are somehow trying to punish someone else for their failure to parent effectively–18 year olds do not own a Tesla without mommy and daddy ponying up the dough.
The company said the family who owned the car “has been a close friend of Tesla for many years.”
We had GT Mustangs, Mach 1s, big block Cyclones and other pretty fast cars at that age. Probably lucky I didn’t end up dead.
I had a friend who’s dad was a cop, he bought an almost new “fleet” version of a Galaxie 500 that IIRC came with a 300 six cylinder engine and a C-6 automatic. They were sold to businesses and as taxicabs and were pretty much indestructible, and they were not very sporty. Being a father today, I wish something like that were available for my kids.
Yeah… 116 mph in a 30 mph zone.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
Whose foot was on the gas pedal?
Don’t blame Tesla.
I don’t see this Lawsuit going very far other than the Parents footing the bills for the failed case! No one forced the teen to buy the car, no one force him to disobey posted speed limits…
I wonder why things cost so much?? Why likely that people don’t take credit for their own stupidity, sue, and the cost is passed on to us. I have been told that ladders are twice their production cost due to legals.
This dipshit killed himself. Fuck him, AND his family.
It’s not Tesla’s fault he was a dumbass. You aren’t supposed to wreck the vehicle… whether it catches on fire, explodes, or uses dildo shaped airbags… YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED THE WRECK THE CAR.
Only an asswipe would own a Tesla, so Death did us a favor and took care of this scumbag early.
oolook – A gas pedal in a Tesla?
Whutzat do… play fart sound effects thru the stereo system?
Check the computer to see if it was in Ludicrous mode.
Seriously, these things can be remotely provisioned to limit everything… but people are going to do stupid things.
The responsible thing that the parents should have done is not buy that car in the first place.
Let him earn one first!
I wonder where an 18yr old gets the money for a car like that. Parents gift maybe?? Seems also that hover boards have issues with fires from lithium battery connections being under rated. If the kid owned the car, why did the parents have the speed limiter installed and not him?? Dumb kid with dumber parents, maybe the real problem.
Lifted shamelessly from the comments section in Breitbart: why didn’t the flux capacitor kick in?
What about the carbon footprint of that fire???
I had to explain to the idiot libs at work, and Tesla car owner, that I agree, a inert car does not kill just as a inert metal firearm does not kill.
They just looked at me.
There are multiple entities at fault here.