A Tesla Model 3 driver who crashed into a home in Katy, Texas, and killed a woman inside had manually overridden the car’s Full Self-Driving technology, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report Wednesday.
The agency said electronic data from the vehicle showed 44-year-old Michael Butler pressed the accelerator pedal to 100 percent before the crash. The Model 3 reached more than 70 mph, according to the NTSB.
The crash happened in June on a two-lane road with a 30 mph speed limit, the NTSB said. Butler’s vehicle struck the home, killing 76-year-old Martha Avila, who was inside.
What investigators say the car data showed
The key finding in the NTSB’s preliminary report is the accelerator input. According to the agency, Butler’s full press of the pedal manually overrode Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system. That matters because the crash involved a Tesla operating with FSD technology, but the NTSB’s early read of the vehicle data points to a driver command at the moment in question.
The report does not, at this stage, assign a final probable cause. It says investigators reviewed the Model 3’s electronic data and found the vehicle exceeded 70 mph during the crash sequence. On a road posted at 30 mph, that is more than twice the speed limit.
The NTSB described its document as preliminary. That means the agency has released early factual findings, not its final analysis. The preliminary report confirms the accelerator override and the speed data, while leaving the broader conclusions for the continuing investigation.
Why the distinction matters
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving branding tends to pull attention toward the software whenever one of its vehicles crashes. The NTSB’s preliminary finding is narrower: investigators say the driver pressed the accelerator all the way down, and that action overrode the FSD technology.
That does not turn the preliminary report into a full account of everything that led to the crash. It does establish the specific mechanism the agency says it found in the car’s own records: a 100 percent accelerator input, a manual override of FSD, and a vehicle traveling above 70 mph before striking a house where Avila was killed.
The NTSB’s investigation remains the official record to watch. For now, its public finding is blunt: the data examined by investigators does not describe a vehicle continuing under FSD control without driver input. It describes a driver flooring the accelerator before a fatal impact.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.