The parents of a young Piedmont woman who died in a fiery Tesla Cybertruck crash last year have filed an amended wrongful death lawsuit, alleging a dangerous door design prevented her from escaping the vehicle.
Krysta Tsukahara, 19, was killed the day before Thanksgiving 2024 when the Cybertruck hit a retaining wall and a tree, and then caught fire on Hampton Road between Sea View and King avenues in Piedmont at about 3 a.m.
Tsukahara, 19-year-old driver Soren Dixon and another passenger, 20-year-old Jack Nelson, died in the Nov. 27 crash. A third passenger was pulled from the burning Tesla by a friend who was following in another car.
In April, Tsukahara’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit seeking answers to basic questions about the collision.
On Thursday, they filed an amended wrongful death lawsuit alleging Tesla Inc.’s door design flaws prevented Tsukahara from escaping the vehicle after the crash.
The suit also names Dixon’s estate and the truck’s owner, Charles Patterson, as defendants.
The complaint, filed in Alameda County Superior Court, alleges that Tsukahara survived the collision with no life-threatening injuries but couldn’t get out after the Cybertruck caught fire due to the vehicle’s complex electronic door mechanisms.
“Krysta was a bright, kind, and accomplished young woman with her whole life ahead of her,” said her father, Carl Tsukahara. “We’ve had to endure not only the loss of our daughter, but the silence surrounding how this happened and why she couldn’t get out. This company is worth a trillion dollars — how can you release a machine that’s not safe in so many ways?”
‘About truth and accountability’
Tesla representatives did not respond to a request for comment about the amended lawsuit and the Cybertruck’s door design.
The lawsuit alleges Tsukahara died from smoke inhalation and thermal injuries after becoming trapped in the rear seat.
The complaint also maintains that Tesla’s reliance on power-dependent door latches violate basic safety standards and ignore a decade of warnings and documented incidents in prior Tesla models.
“This lawsuit is about truth and accountability,” said attorney Roger Dreyer, who is representing the Tsukahara family. “The design of this vehicle failed Krysta. There was no functioning, accessible manual override or emergency release for her to escape. Her death was preventable.”
Tsukahara was a student at Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia and was home in Piedmont for the Thanksgiving break.