{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0357","record_version":1,"title":"Family blames Tesla Autosteer after four relatives killed, lawsuit says","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":42.5,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":0.0,"completeness":2.24,"unhedged_language":5.0},"checks":{"schema_valid":true,"every_field_cited":true,"quotes_verbatim":true,"source_fetched":true,"distinct_incident":true,"dates_plausible":true,"sources_agree":true,"source_describes_incident":true,"severe_backed_by_source":true,"record_integrity":true,"eligible":true,"about_this_case":true},"gate_version":"gate-2026-10-18.7","cross_check_model":null,"cross_check_agreement":null,"duplicate_of":null,"verified_by":null,"verified_at":"2026-11-01","extraction_run_id":null,"evidence_level":{"level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change","original_document":null,"reports_total":1,"reports_independent":0,"reports_derivative":0,"developing":false,"disputed":false,"rules_version":"evidence-2026-10-29.1","computed_at":"2026-11-01","history":[{"date":"2026-11-01","from_level":null,"to_level":"preliminary","reason":"Publisher not yet named · subject to change"}]},"sources_hash":"1553ef3f2df7bd3918fb7b739177851be571d58275b318ed6a384347ae206b12"},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"unknown","harness":null,"tools_granted":[],"permissions_scope":null,"autonomy_level":"unknown","guardrails_present":[],"deployment_context":"unknown","tier":null,"lifecycle_stage":null,"integration_type":null,"intended_use":null,"safeguard_state":null,"production_intended":null},"event":{"date_occurred":null,"date_disclosed":"2026-01-01","incident_class":"other","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":null,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"unknown","summary":"A Utah man's wife, two daughters, son-in-law and family dog were killed when their 2022 Tesla Model X crossed a road's center line and hit an oncoming semi-truck on Idaho State Highway 33. The lawsuit says the vehicle abruptly veered into the opposing lane, and all four occupants died at the scene. The complaint blames the Autosteer function and lane-keeping safety systems, which it says defectively failed to work as advertised. It also alleges that Tesla and Elon Musk misrepresented the vehicle's driver-assistance capabilities. The family's attorney said he does not believe Autopilot was turned on at the time of the crash. The sources do not describe how the incident was detected or any investigation findings. A Tesla spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. The suit seeks economic, non-economic and punitive damages to be determined by a jury.","tags":[],"date_detected":null,"near_miss":null,"root_cause":null,"root_cause_detail":null,"failure_class_detail":null,"responsible_party":null,"adversarial_actor":null,"input_provenance":null,"time_to_contain":null,"operations_paused":null,"remediation":null,"precursor_events":null},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"severe","severity_because":"Safety-of-life test met: the source states that all four occupants died at the scene.","harm_class":["bodily"],"affected_description":null,"protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/tesla-self-driving-family-killed-lawsuit-b2893264.html","publisher":"The Independent","date":"2026-01-01","type":"press","title":"Family blame Tesla’s ‘Autosteer’ feature for veering car into path of oncoming truck after four relatives killed: lawsuit - The Independent","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report"}],"per_field_confidence":{"impact.harm_class":"C","event.incident_class":"D","impact.severity":"D","impact.severity_because":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.trigger":"D","event.detection_method":"D","context.country":"D","system.developer":"D","event.date_disclosed":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"impact.harm_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"All four died at the scene."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"In a 33-page lawsuit reviewed by The Independent, Nathan Blaine accuses Tesla and Musk of having “intentionally misrepresented the safety of their vehicles” and the driver-assistance features."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"All four died at the scene."}],"impact.severity_because":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"All four died at the scene."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A Utah man whose wife, two daughters, son-in-law, and family dog were crushed to death when their Tesla Model X suddenly crossed a road’s center line and slammed head-on into a tractor-trailer, claims the electric carmaker and CEO Elon Musk negligently lulled him into a “false sense of security” about the vehicle’s purported autonomous capabilities."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Shortly before 10 p.m., while traveling east on Idaho State Highway 33, the Model X abruptly veered into the road’s westbound lane as it navigated a “gentle southward curve,” the complaint continues."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"All four died at the scene."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The complaint also assigns blame to the Model X’s “Lane Departure Warning,” “Lane Keeping Assist,” “Lane Centering Assistance,” and “Emergency Lane Departure Avoidance” systems, contending they “defectively failed” to work as advertised."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"In a 33-page lawsuit reviewed by The Independent, Nathan Blaine accuses Tesla and Musk of having “intentionally misrepresented the safety of their vehicles” and the driver-assistance features."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"(Shumway said he doesn’t believe Autopilot was turned on at the time of the crash.)"},{"source_index":0,"quote":"A Tesla spokesperson did not respond on Thursday to a request for comment."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Blaine’s suit seeks economic damages, non-economic damages, and punitive damages to be determined by a jury."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"This is a lawsuit allegation, not an established finding; no investigation, regulator or Tesla report is among the sources, and Tesla did not respond to comment requests. The sources do not state the crash date, the date of disclosure, the date of detection, or the Autosteer autonomy level and deployment context, so those fields are left out. The sources do not state whether Autosteer or Autopilot was engaged; the attorney's belief is reported only as his statement. The sources do not name an agent, so agent_involved, failure_class and trigger are left out. Country US is inferred from the Utah and Idaho locations. Severity severe is a judgement that the reported deaths meet the safety-of-life test. The complaint's allegation that Tesla lacked a driver monitoring system has no matching control id and is not coded. The I10 mapping of the lane-keeping systems to physical safety interlocks is my judgement. No remediation is stated in the sources. Earlier Tesla incidents mentioned in the article are other incidents and are excluded. [case created by the backfill: read by claude-haiku-5-5, backfill-2026-11-01.2, 2026-11-01; not yet reviewed] [2026-11-01: evidence level set: Preliminary (Publisher not yet named · subject to change)]"},"context":{"industry":null,"org_size_band":null,"country":"unknown","denominator_available":false,"denominator":null,"related_incident_ids":[],"systemic_exposure":null,"shared_model_id":null,"upstream_incident_id":null,"incident_evidence":null,"regulatory":null,"coverage":null},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"The Blaines ordered the Model X and paid extra for Full Self Driving.","quote":"The Blaines ordered the Model X on February 15, 2021, and paid extra for “Full Self Driving,” the complaint states.","source_index":0,"when":"2021-02-15"},{"text":"Jennifer Blaine finished work and drove home in the Model X to pick up relatives.","quote":"After 46-year-old Jennifer Blaine, the director of a charter school in Perry, Utah, finished work on September 1, 2023, she drove home in her 2022 Model X to pick up daughters Denali, 11, and Emily, 22, along with Emily’s husband, Zachary Leavitt, 24, according to Nathan Blaine’s complaint, which was first filed in state court before being removed to federal court last week.","source_index":0,"when":"2023-09-01"},{"text":"All four occupants died at the scene.","quote":"All four died at the scene.","source_index":0,"when":null},{"text":"Blaine's complaint, dated December 23, alleges Musk oversells the technology.","quote":"Musk, according to Blaine’s December 23 complaint, oversells the technology in order to, among other things, “generate excitement” about Tesla, to pump up its stock price, and to help “establish Tesla as a dominant player in the electric vehicle market, all at the expense of the public's safety.”","source_index":0,"when":"December 23"}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/tesla-self-driving-family-killed-lawsuit-b2893264.html"]}}