A Tesla Model 3 with FSD 14.2.2.3 self-driving monitoring software is shown driving on a highway in Irvine, California, USA on January 28, 2026.
Mike Blake | Reuters
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced Monday that it has opened a special crash investigation into the accident. tesla Martha Avila, 76, was killed when a Model 3 crashed into a home in Katy, Texas.
Harris County authorities said the driver, Michael Butler, was cooperating with investigators at the scene and was using Tesla’s partially automated driving system when the car left its lane and crashed into a home in suburban Houston.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk was on the defensive, calling the crash “senseless” in a post on social network X on Monday.
“FSD was driving slowly down a neighborhood street and this was a high speed crash!” he wrote, referring to his company’s partially autonomous driving system.
Ashok Elswamy, Tesla’s vice president of Autopilot, echoed the incident in his response to Musk regarding X.
“In this case, the driver pressed the gas pedal to 100% in this residential area and manually disabled autonomous driving,” he wrote. “During the collision, they reached speeds of 113 miles per hour and continued to press the accelerator after the collision.”
The driver’s claims and Tesla executives’ claims are still under investigation and have not been independently verified.
The Washington Post previously reported that Tesla has a history of losing comprehensive electronic data generated and stored in its cars when involved in serious crashes, or making it difficult for lawyers and other interested parties to obtain them.
Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.
Federal vehicle safety regulators have opened more than 30 special crash investigations involving Tesla’s Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, or partially autonomous driving systems, since 2016, when the systems became standard equipment on the electric car maker’s new vehicles.
The standard option was sold in the U.S. before February under the name “Autopilot,” but Elon Musk’s automaker changed its name after legal pressure from the California Department of Transportation.
A California court and the state DMV found that Tesla falsely advertised its Autopilot system and could confuse consumers about its limitations.
Another accident in May in Claremont, California, involved a Tesla crashing into a house. Six people were injured when a Tesla vehicle collided with another vehicle and crashed into a home, according to NBC 7 San Diego.
Witnesses told CBS News 8 that the driver said he was using Autopilot at the time of the accident. Authorities are investigating.
TeslaDeaths.com, an independent site that tracks crashes involving Teslas using news reports, police records, and federal data, found that from 2013 to 2025, there were at least 65 crash deaths in which Tesla Autopilot or FSD (with supervision) was cited as a factor.
NHTSA’s latest investigation comes as Mr. Musk seeks to maintain investor confidence that his automaker can become a world leader in self-driving cars.
The company has been working on its self-driving system for years, promising that its technology would soon be sophisticated and safe enough to operate large-scale robotaxis on U.S. roads.
Despite the news of the federal investigation, Tesla stock rose one point to close at $405.05 on Monday.
