What happened

Houston resident Justine Saint Amour was driving her Cybertruck on the 69 Eastex Freeway with FSD engaged. As the vehicle approached a Y-shaped overpass split, the system failed to navigate the right-hand curve. 

Instead, it steered the truck directly toward a concrete barrier - the only structure preventing a fall onto the highway below. 

Despite the driver's attempt to disengage the system and regain control, the vehicle struck the barrier, causing the hood to fly open and body panels to detach. 

Saint Amour suffered permanent injuries, including three herniated discs, wrist tendon damage, and neuropathy. 

Why it happened

The incident is attributed to a failure in Tesla’s "Vision" system, which relies exclusively on cameras rather than LiDAR or radar. The lawsuit alleges that Tesla’s leadership, specifically CEO Elon Musk, overrode engineering recommendations to include more reliable sensors. 

Additionally, the root cause is attributable to "marketing defects": the branding of the system as "Full Self-Driving" may create a false sense of security, leading users to trust the software in complex environments like freeway interchanges where the system's "supervised" limitations are most critical.