NTSB: Spring 2021 Tesla fire accident caused by drunk driver speeding

SPRING, TX — The National Transportation Safety Board released a new report Wednesday that sheds more light on the 2021 Tesla crash that killed two people this spring.

The report says that the cause of the accident was speeding by the driver, as well as his state of intoxication and medication. In fact, the report said that in the five seconds leading up to the crash, the Tesla had accelerated from 39 to 67 mph, and the toxicology report showed that the driver had an alcohol level of 1.5.

“We determined that the probable cause of the EV crash in Spring, Texas was the driver’s speeding and inability to drive his vehicle due to alcohol in combination with the effects of two sedative antihistamines, which resulted in a driveway. tree collision and post-crash fire,” the NTSB said.

READ: Two people died in the crash involving Tesla. 4 says burned almost four hours

On April 17, 2021, Dr. William Varner and Everett Talbot decided to ride Varner’s 2019 Tesla Model S P100D. They left Varner’s home and drove about 550 feet before the electric vehicle veered off the road, hit a storm drain and crashed into two trees, the NTSB said.

The crash damaged a Tesla lithium-ion battery case and set a car on fire in the Carlton Woods Subdivision area of ​​Hammock Dunes Place, according to the NTSB.

Varner and Talbot both died in the plane crash.

The next day, Harris County, District 4. Constable Mark Herman it was reported that it took firefighters nearly four hours and over 30,000 gallons of water to put out the fire. He said that when his deputies were finally able to remove the bodies from the Tesla, they noticed that no one was driving, leading them to believe that no one was driving the vehicle at the time of the impact.

Herman said one person was found in the front passenger seat and another in the back.

This speculation led Elon Musk and Tesla executives to react by disputing Herman’s claims that the crash was caused by an autopilot function.

“We inspected the car along with the NTSB, NTHSA and local police, and we were able to find that the steering wheel was indeed deformed,” a Tesla executive said nine days after the accident. “So there was a possibility that someone was in the driver’s seat at the time of the crash and all seat belts were unbuckled after the crash.”

An NTSB preliminary report showed footage of Dr. Varner driving and Talbot taking the passenger seat before they took off. The agency said that Dr. Varner managed to get into the back seat immediately after the accident.

In its latest report, the NTSB recommended manufacturers of electric vehicles equipped with high-voltage batteries provide emergency response guides to help emergency responders in the event of a fire.

KHOU 11 reporter Matt Dougherty is following this story and will be posting updates on the KHOU 11 news at 10pm.

Check for updates.

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