On Wednesday, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced an investigation into a car crash involving a 2014 Tesla Model S the day prior. The Tuesday night Tesla crash killed two teenage boys and injured a third.
The NTSB will deploy its investigators to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to probe the accident on State Route A1A.
- Investigators believe that the probable cause of the crash was a fire to the electric car’s battery.
- The federal agency dismissed rumors that the car’s Auto Pilot may be at fault.
- Still, the investigation is ongoing.
All the passengers and the driver of the Tesla car were 18-year-old males. Local authorities believe that that speeding might have been the cause.
Tesla announced that it was working with authorities to establish the facts of the fatal car crash. The company pledged its “full cooperation” to investigators and expressed condolences to the grieving families.
Our thoughts are with the families and friends affected by this tragedy,
a company’s statement reads.
Two Dead, One Injured in This Week’s Tesla Crash
The police identified the driver, who died in the crash, as Barrett Riley and the dead passenger as Edgar Monserratt Martinez. The passenger who survived was identified as Alexander Berry. The car reportedly ejected Berry, but he was injured.
It is not the first time that one of Tesla Motors’ electric vehicles gets involved in a car crash. In most cases, the cars’ Autopilot mode was at fault. In March, a man from Mountain View, Calif., died in his Model X while the car was on Autopilot.
The NTSB’s investigation revealed that Tesla had released data about the driver without the agency’s consent, fueling speculation. Tesla accused the agency of withholding some information from the public and withdrew from the probe.
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