Lawsuit against Tesla accuses Musk of overselling autonomous driving capabilities to boost stock price

A man has brought a lawsuit against Tesla and Elon Musk for overselling the safety of their self-driving car features after his family was killed in a head-on crash with a semi truck. 

The lawsuit was filed in federal court by Nathan Blaine on December 23rd, 2025 for the September 2023 crash in Utah. 

According to The Independent, Blaine’s wife Jennifer was behind the wheel of the Tesla electric car with their 11 year old daughter, 22-year-old daughter, their son-in-law, and the family dog, when the vehicle veered out of its lane and into the path of an oncoming Kenworth semi truck hauling grain. The four Tesla passengers and the dog were killed in the crash. 

Blaine claims that both Tesla and Elon Musk “intentionally misrepresented the safety of their vehicles” and their autonomous driving capabilities in order to boost the stock prices,  “generate excitement” about Tesla, and to “establish Tesla as a dominant player in the electric vehicle market, all at the expense of the public’s safety.”

“Based on representations the Blaines heard made by Musk and Tesla… [they] believed [it] was a safer driver than a human driver of convention[al] vehicles,” the complaint states, saying they were lulled into a “false sense of security.”

The lawsuit claims that the crash is largely due to the car’s inadequate “Autosteer” function, and the overselling of its capabilities. 

“Tesla’s done a lot of good things, in my calculation,” attorney Lynn Shumway said, “but they did this inadequately. I think the technology is fantastic, but not the way Tesla is implementing it.”

“Apparently Tesla didn’t do enough simulation work on the vehicle, under the conditions this one was in, on the kind of road it was on, and it’s kind of mystifying here because this road was pretty normal and pretty simple.”

Autopilot was not engaged at the time of the deadly crash, but the suit alleges that “disengagement of Autopilot should not reduce the effectiveness of safety features the vehicle is equipped with.”

The safety features the vehicle involved in the crash was equipped with include  “Lane Departure Warning,” “Lane Keeping Assist,” “Lane Centering Assistance,” and “Emergency Lane Departure Avoidance” systems.

A GoFundMe Campaign for the family mentions the trucker involved in the crash, and wishes him the best.

“To the dear sweet trucker involved,” the page reads, “We love you. We are praying for you. As we mourn the loss of our loved ones, please know that we ache for you also. You are not forgotten, you are appreciated and loved.”