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Woman, 19, dies after Tesla cybertruck burst into flames following crash, doors allegedly couldn't open, family suing
Three out of four people in the vehicle died.
Gracia Yap
October 09, 2025, 12:26 PM
Three out of four people in the vehicle died.
Three students in the United States were killed after the Tesla Cybertruck they were in crashed and caught fire on Nov. 27, 2024 in Piedmont, California.
The families of two victims have since filed lawsuits against Tesla for the design of the pickup truck's doors.
The students allegedly died after being trapped in the vehicle as the doors could not be opened.The New York Times reported that the parents of Krysta Tsukahara, 19, and Jack Nelson, 20, filed lawsuits against Tesla on Oct. 2.
The lawsuits stated that because of the faulty car doors, their children could not escape the vehicle after it burst into flames.
The crash
According to the New York Post, three out of four people in the vehicle died in the accident.
The victims include Tsukahara (pictured above), a student at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, as well as Nelson, a student at the University of Colorado, Boulder.Soren Dixon, 19, was the third victim and driver of the Cybertruck.
The fourth person in the vehicle, Jordan Miller, 20, managed to escape after one of their friends following in another vehicle used a tree branch to smash the windshield, according to the New York Post.
The New York Times reported that the Cybertruck's battery caught fire after it smashed into a tree at high speed in a San Francisco Bay Area suburb.Faulty door claim
The lawsuits claimed that while Tsukahara and Nelson sustained minor injuries from the crash, they died of burns and smoke inhalation.This is because the Cybertruck's battery caught fire, the lawsuits claimed.
The lawsuits also claimed that Tsukahara and Nelson could not escape because the manual door releases were too difficult to find.The passenger apparently must lift a rubber mat on the bottom of the door's storage pocket before pulling a cable underneath to open the Cybertruck's rear doors.
Safety concerns
Tesla pioneered car doors that open or shut by pushing a button.Several other automakers are said to have imitated that design, which is usually done on electric models.
The New York Times reported that the automaker's door latches rely on a 12-volt battery.This battery is separate from the high-voltage battery driving the vehicle’s electric motor.
In the event that the vehicle loses power in a crash, the electronic door mechanism may not work.
In addition, an investigation that began in September 2025 by federal auto safety regulators is questioning how the doors of many Teslas work.
According to Firstpost, the lawsuit cited more than 30 publicised problems with Tesla door systems.It also alleged that the company had a "conscious disregard" for safety and claimed that the company has been aware of the issue for years.
Autopsy
Following this crash, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that an autopsy report showed that the three victims' deaths were caused by asphyxia due to inhalation of smoke from the car fire.All three victims died at the scene.
The Alameda County Coroner's Office said burns were a "significant" condition that contributed to their deaths.
Toxicology reports revealed that all four victims had cocaine, alcohol, and other substances in their systems.
The California Highway Patrol cited impaired driving and speeding as factors in the crash.
Miller, the sole survivor and a business student at the University of Wisconsin, was reportedly rushed to hospital for surgery.
Top photos via Krysta Tsukahara's Facebook, Canvahttps://bit.Iy/3qgqzHg
