{"schema_version":"0.10.0","id":"LR-2026-0525","record_version":1,"title":"Tesla Full Self-Driving drives through lowered railroad crossing arm before train (Texas, owner account)","verification":{"human_verified":false,"method":"automated_gate","auto_verified":true,"score":46.6,"score_breakdown":{"source_authority":12.1,"independent_corroboration":7.0,"implicated_party_confirmed":0.0,"citation_integrity":14.0,"specificity":3.0,"completeness":3.2,"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":"9734673ca2584d5a1fe8448af775f7b564b2cc9a2e2abd1f51e66f271dfd4751"},"system":{"model_name":null,"model_version":null,"developer":"Tesla","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":"2026-04-15","incident_class":"physical_safety","failure_class":null,"agent_involved":true,"secondary_failure_classes":[],"trigger":"unknown","duration":null,"detection_method":"victim","summary":"A Texas owner says his car, using Tesla’s Full Self-Driving, was stopped at an active railroad crossing with the arm down when the car moved forward on its own and drove through the lowered crossing arm as a train approached. He says he pressed the accelerator to clear the tracks instead of braking, and the car crossed the rails with the train bearing down. He braked only after the car had cleared the tracks and walked away unharmed. The account, shared through Storyful video and reported by Electrek, is one of several FSD railroad-crossing reports cited. The day after the incident Tesla began rolling out FSD v14.3, and NHTSA already has an open probe into FSD.","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,"primary_risk":"RK18"},"impact":{"direct_loss_usd":null,"remediation_hours":null,"records_exposed":null,"third_parties_affected_count":null,"severity":"severe","harm_class":["none_materialised"],"affected_description":null,"protected_class_involved":null,"data_categories_exposed":[],"loss_range_usd":null,"reversibility":null,"downstream_exposure_count":null},"evidence":{"sources":[{"url":"https://electrek.co/2026/04/15/tesla-fsd-railroad-gate-oncoming-train-texas-owner/","publisher":"Electrek","date":"2026-04-15","type":"press","title":"Tesla ‘Full Self-Driving’ crashed through railroad gate seconds before train - Electrek","archived_url":null,"attachment":"first_report"}],"per_field_confidence":{"system.developer":"C","event.agent_involved":"C","event.incident_class":"C","event.detection_method":"C","impact.harm_class":"C","impact.severity":"D","event.primary_risk":"D","event.summary":"C","system.autonomy_level":"D","system.deployment_context":"D","event.trigger":"D","context.country":"D","event.date_disclosed":"D","context.denominator_available":"D"},"field_citations":{"system.developer":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Despite the “Full Self-Driving” product name, FSD remains a Level 2 system and Tesla instructs drivers to keep their hands on the wheel and their eyes on the road at all times."}],"event.agent_involved":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"Then, he says, the Tesla took off on its own."}],"event.incident_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"The car smashed through the crossing arm — which Brown says hit the center of his driver’s side window and knocked items off his dashboard and center console — and crossed the rails with the train bearing down."}],"event.detection_method":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"According to Brown’s account to Storyful, he was stopped at an active level crossing — arm down, lights flashing, a train visible in the distance — and settled in for what he assumed would be at least a minute’s wait."}],"impact.harm_class":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"He walked away shaken but unharmed."}],"impact.severity":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"In that chaotic moment, I glanced to my right and saw the train barreling toward us — lights glaring, horn blaring."}],"event.summary":[{"source_index":0,"quote":"A Texas Tesla owner says he punched the accelerator to outrun an oncoming train after his car on “Full Self-Driving” drove itself through a lowered railroad crossing arm as the train closed in on the tracks."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Then, he says, the Tesla took off on its own."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"Only then did I slam on the brakes and bring it to a stop."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"He walked away shaken but unharmed."},{"source_index":0,"quote":"The day after Brown’s incident, Tesla began rolling out FSD v14.3, built on a new MLIR-based compiler and runtime that Tesla claims delivers “20% faster reaction time.”"},{"source_index":0,"quote":"NHTSA already has an open probe into FSD after linking the system to at least 58 incidents, 14 crashes, and 23 injuries — a list that has since grown to roughly 80 documented violations, including crossing into opposing traffic lanes and running red lights."}]},"notes_on_gaps":"Single press source (Electrek) relaying one owner’s account; nothing was independently verified and no Tesla or NHTSA statement on this incident is in the sources. Not stated: the incident date (only the article date 2026-04-15 appears in the header, not in a quotable sentence, so date fields are omitted), the FSD version in use at the incident, the model name, root cause, trigger, responsible party, any control that held or failed, the train’s speed or injuries beyond the owner. The v14.3 release is recorded in the timeline, but no control is stated to have been added, so no remediation entry is made. Judgements: autonomy_level set to supervised-auto from the Level 2 and driver-supervision statement; deployment_context production and country US inferred from a customer vehicle on a Texas crossing; incident_class physical_safety and agent_involved true treated as fitting an automated driving system; severity severe on the safety-of-life test (train closing on the car), though no injury occurred; harm_class none_materialised because no injury was stated. Electrek’s commentary, reader comments and the 2025 and March incidents describe other events and were not used as facts about this incident. [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},"narrative":{"steps":[{"step":"doing","text":"The owner says the car was stopped at an active level crossing with the arm down and lights flashing.","quote":"According to Brown’s account to Storyful, he was stopped at an active level crossing — arm down, lights flashing, a train visible in the distance — and settled in for what he assumed would be at least a minute’s wait.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"went_wrong","text":"The owner says the car accelerated forward on its own while stopped at the crossing.","quote":"Then, he says, the Tesla took off on its own.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"reached","text":"The car went through the lowered crossing arm and crossed the rails as the train approached.","quote":"The car smashed through the crossing arm — which Brown says hit the center of his driver’s side window and knocked items off his dashboard and center console — and crossed the rails with the train bearing down.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"},{"step":"done","text":"The owner walked away shaken but unharmed.","quote":"He walked away shaken but unharmed.","source_index":0,"grade":"C"}],"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://electrek.co/2026/04/15/tesla-fsd-railroad-gate-oncoming-train-texas-owner/"]},"analysis":{"sections":{"timeline":[{"text":"Earlier separate incident: a Model 3 on FSD drove through a railroad crossing arm at 23 mph in West Covina, California.","quote":"In March, dashcam footage showed a Model 3 on FSD drive straight through a railroad crossing arm at 23 mph in the West Covina, California area, with the owner captioning the video “Tesla FSD almost killed me today.”","source_index":0,"when":"March"},{"text":"Earlier separate incident: a Tesla on FSD was struck by a train in eastern Pennsylvania.","quote":"in 2025 a Tesla on FSD was struck by a train in eastern Pennsylvania after the system steered the car onto the tracks.","source_index":0,"when":"2025"},{"text":"The owner was stopped at an active level crossing when the incident began.","quote":"According to Brown’s account to Storyful, he was stopped at an active level crossing — arm down, lights flashing, a train visible in the distance — and settled in for what he assumed would be at least a minute’s wait.","source_index":0,"when":null},{"text":"The car accelerated on its own, according to the owner.","quote":"Then, he says, the Tesla took off on its own.","source_index":0,"when":null},{"text":"The owner braked after the car had cleared the tracks.","quote":"Only then did I slam on the brakes and bring it to a stop.","source_index":0,"when":null},{"text":"Senators asked NHTSA to formally investigate FSD behaviour at rail crossings.","quote":"Those incidents prompted Senators Ed Markey and Richard Blumenthal to ask NHTSA to formally investigate FSD’s behavior at rail crossings.","source_index":0,"when":null}]},"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"backfill-2026-11-01.2","extracted_at":"2026-11-01","source_urls":["https://electrek.co/2026/04/15/tesla-fsd-railroad-gate-oncoming-train-texas-owner/"]}}