by A doctor was burnt to death in his crashed Tesla because the electronic door handles of the vehicle did not pop out, which means rescuers could not save him from the flames, a lawsuit claims.
Dr. Omar Awan, 48, died in February 2019 after crashing his Model S on South Flamingo Road in Broward County, Florida.
He survived the initial collision. And his family is now suing Elon Musk’s car company, claiming that the death of the father of five from burns and death from smoke inhalation could have been avoided had it not been for the Tesla door handles.
The car company vehicles have special door handles that fit at the same level as the car body. They get dragged into the vehicle while moving, but can get out when it stops to let people in.
After the crash, the initial rescuers on the scene were confused by the handles of the car doors, which had not escaped and could not enter, NBC6 reported.
Then the first correspondents got to the point, and they also went to hell. Tesla is intended to have two backup safety mechanisms.
The first sees the door handles come out automatically in the event of an accident, unless it happens very abruptly.
A second option can allow first responders to break the car window and manually pop the doors out using a special mechanism inside.
But nothing happened and Awan’s family insists it’s due to the 2016 model of his car being defective.
According to the police report, Awan was running at the time of the collision, with his car moving at around 79 mph.
It was also found to be above the driving limit under the influence of alcohol. Tesla denied the allegations in the lawsuit, saying the car was working properly and claiming that Awan was responsible for his death.
But his family stands firm and insists he could have been saved if it were not for the car door handles, which he insists were not working properly.
Dr Omar Awan, 48, died in February 2019 after crashing his Model S on South Flamingo Road in Broward County, Florida.
Firefighters were unable to reach the doctor because the retractable arms of the door did not pop out. Tesla claims it should have unless the car ‘s power cut’ abruptly ‘
After the collision, the first responders claimed that they could not open the door to the burning car because it could not find a door handle.
The luxury, futuristic car company said the handrails should have come off automatically unless power was cut off abruptly from the vehicle, NBC South Florida reported. Tesla also said that there is a “mechanical spare in place that can only be accessed from inside the vehicle”.
Early correspondents are said to have been trained to “break the window and open the vehicle from the inside,” Tesla said.
“They could not find a door knob to try to go that way and unfortunately they were unable to pull the driver away,” a NBC South Florida police spokesman said at the time. “They tried to break the window to get the issue out, but they did not succeed. The flames were very strong, very big at that point. ”
The door handles are retracted into the car as the vehicle moves to make it more aerodynamic, but when the Awan crashed, they were not retracted outwards. According to information, there is a manual selection in the car. The first responders said they tried to break the window to reach Awan, but were unable to do so due to the fire.
The family now says Awan “could have been saved” if the Model S design had not been “defective”.
In addition to the “failed” door handles, the family claims the luxury car has an “unreasonably dangerous fire hazard,” the lawsuit said.
“Listen, these futuristic cars have benefits, but they also have high, high risks, and yes, death is one of them,” Lilliana’s wife told NBC South Florida. “Forget the technical details of this, that, whatever it.… The point is that he was alive.
“She could have been saved. It could be here. “He could be with us, with his children,” he continued. “He was only 48. We have small children; that was the first moment of his life.”
“He was always smiling, he was joking with me,” his son Saf told NBC South Florida – who watched his father’s phone call in the 2019 accident.
After his father did not return home from running work, he searched his location and saw that it was in the middle of South Flamingo Road and thought it was wrong.
He said: “I looked at it and it was a bit strange because the location was in the middle of South Flamingo Road. “I just thought it was like a bug, like a cache bug.”
But it was not wrong. Footage from cell phones at the time shows the car being surrounded by large, hot flames that took a long time for firefighters to put out. Even after towing, the car started again three times.
Tesla cars are known to break out in uncontrollable fires after serious accidents and need 40 times more water to extinguish than a normal car. Cars re-ignite mainly due to its electric battery, which can extinguish extreme amounts of heat even after the fire is extinguished.
Awan’s wife Lilliana (left) and Saf’s son (right) sued the company for his death, saying the Model S was “defective” and retractable door handles caused his death, as the medical examiner’s report reported dying from inhalation of toxic fumes and burns. Tesla, however, claims he was drunk or anxious as the toxicology report stated that his blood alcohol level was above the legal limit.
Known as the “backbone” of the Awan family, his wife said it took her three years to overcome the loss of her husband.
I said: “My God, why him? Why him? Why my husband? “I thought I was living in a dream … that he would show up at the door. That he would come any day and joke with the children.
“She was a very kind soul. He was very, very supportive. “
Her son agreed that the defeat was difficult: “You feel disappointed. You feel the worst you have ever been, you know, you lose your dad. ”
The car company is also investigating autopilot failures, among others.
A woman in Indiana was killed in a series of clashes involving Tesla driving an autopilot.
The break-ins are all linked to the presence of emergency vehicles at the time, with an ongoing federal investigation now examining whether the emergency lights of these vehicles confused Teslas self-driving sensors.
DailyMail.com contacted Tesla for comment on the fatal accident lawsuit.
