Woman Sues Tesla After Husband Dies in Fiery Car Crash, Alleges Model 3 That Exploded Was Faulty

A woman has filed a lawsuit against Tesla after her husband's Tesla Model 3 allegedly malfunctioned during a crash that left him dead.

Jiyoung Yoon claimed in her lawsuit that her late husband Jyung Woo Hahn died after his vehicle malfunctioned and crashed into a tree, TMZ reports. While he survived the initial crash, the Tesla Model 3 erupted into flames near the Palisades Interstate Parkway in Rockland County, New York and he was unable to escape.

She alleges the company's electric sedan was defective in design, and manufacture, and was not built to withstand even minor car crashes. She called the vehicle "unreasonably dangerous for its designed and intended purposes." Yoon is seeking unspecified damages in the lawsuit, which the company has yet to respond to.

Telsa, of which Elon Musk is famously the CEO, is no stranger to lawsuits. In 2021, the company was successfully sued by a former employee for $137 million after his attorneys said he was the victim of racism when he worked at the company. The amount was later reduced to just $15 million, which attorneys rejected. In 2022, a group of former employees filed a separate lawsuit against Tesla for an alleged toxic workplace culture that fostered racist abuse and harassment.

Earlier this year, the company faced another major setback when it was forced to recall over 362,000 cars due to faulty "full self-driving" technology. According to a report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Tesla-developed self-driving system has boosted the chance of accidents. The system allows the car to steer, accelerate, brake, and change lanes by itself, ultimately permitting the car to operate in an “unlawful” manner, according to the safety agency, especially because the vehicle can accelerate above legal speed limits and through intersections.