The father of an 18-year old who died in a fiery car crash in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., last year, is suing the car’s manufacturer Tesla for negligence and liability.
On Tuesday, James B. Riley filed a lawsuit against Telsa on behalf of the estate of his son, Riley Barrett, who was driving his father’s 2014 Model S sedan at 116 mph when he lost control on a curve and careened into a concrete wall on a major thoroughfare.
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The car exploded, killing the young driver and his Pine Crest High School classmate.
Another passenger survived but was injured when he was thrown from the car, reported the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
Riley’s lawsuit, which faults the batteries used by the company, was filed in the Superior Court of California in Santa Clara County.
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Tesla is headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif.
The 16-page lawsuit states that “Barrett Riley was killed by the battery fire, not by the accident.” Tesla’s defectively designed lithium-ion batteries caused the vehicle to “burst into an uncontrollable and fatal fire” upon impact, the suit claims.