Tesla Hit With $243M Verdict After Hacker Recovers Crash Data

A Miami jury established a historic record by awarding Tesla $243 million in damages, after a hacker discovered crucial crash data that Tesla had denied existed.

The incident, detailed in a report by The Washington Post, occurred when a Tesla driving on Autopilot mode hit 22-year-old Naibel Benavides Leon and her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo.

The crash, which happened in Key Largo, Florida, in 2019, resulted in the death of Ms. Leon and severe injuries to Angulo. The driver, George McGee, admitted he was distracted when the crash happened, as noted by The Post.

For years, Tesla insisted it could not locate data that showed what the car detected before the collision. But a hacker known online as @greentheonly, working from a Starbucks in Miami, retrieved the information from the vehicle’s control unit. “For any reasonable person, it was obvious the data was there,” the hacker said to The Post.

The Tesla system captured a collision snapshot that showed the vehicle had detected the couple before the accident occurred. The plaintiffs used this evidence to prove Autopilot system defects, and accused Tesla of giving misleading information to investigators.

Tesla lawyer Joel Smith admitted the company was “clumsy’’ but denied any wrongdoing through his statement: “We didn’t think we had it, and we found out we did. And, thankfully, we did because this is an amazingly helpful piece of information,” as reported by The Post.

The jury established Tesla as 33% responsible for the accident, which proved detrimental to the company that often argues drivers are responsible when using Autopilot. The Post reports that Tesla declared the court decision to be incorrect, and announced it would file an appeal, calling the data dispute an “irrelevant issue.”

A shareholder lawsuit in Texas now claims Tesla made false statements about its self-driving technology to investors, as multiple crash-related lawsuits continue their progression across the United States.

For the victims’ families, however, the case brings little comfort. “We have this relief that the world knows, but it doesn’t change anything for us,” said Neima Benavides, the victim’s sister, as reported by The Post.