HACKER UNCOVERS DATA: TESLA FOUND WITHHOLDING EVIDENCE IN FLORIDA WRONGFUL DEATH CASE

A federal court in Florida found Tesla partially liable for a 2019 fatal crash, after evidence presented at trial proved the company had withheld crucial data. The lawsuit was filed by the family of Naibel Benavides Leon, who was killed, and her boyfriend, Dillon Angulo, who was severely injured when a Tesla Model S on Autopilot crashed into their parked SUV in Key Largo. After repeated denials that the data existed, the plaintiffs hired a hacker who recovered the evidence, leading to a jury awarding $243 million in damages.

If this case sounds familiar, you could have already read an article posted earlier this month which briefly covered the topic. This is a follow up to that quick news piece.

The crash and Tesla’s initial claims

The incident occurred on April 25, 2019, when a Tesla Model S driver, who was distracted after dropping his phone, crashed into a legally parked SUV. Naibel Benavides Leon and Dillon Angulo were standing outside the SUV at the time. The driver, George McGee, settled with the family separately and was found to be 67% at fault by the jury, while Tesla was assigned 33% of the liability.

For years, Tesla denied having the “collision snapshot”—data from the car’s sensors and cameras capturing the moments before and after the crash. The plaintiffs’ legal team repeatedly tried to obtain this evidence during discovery, but Tesla insisted it was corrupted or deleted. In reality, the data was uploaded to Tesla’s servers and the local copy on the car was marked for deletion shortly after the crash occurred.

“The information was key for a wrongful death case the survivor and the victim’s family were building against Tesla, but the company said it didn’t have the data,” the Washington Post said. “Then a self-described hacker, enlisted by the plaintiffs to decode the contents of a chip they recovered from the vehicle, found it while sipping a Venti-size hot chocolate at a South Florida Starbucks. Tesla later said in court that it had the data on its own servers all along.”

A hacker’s discovery and the game-changing evidence

Stonewalled by Tesla, the plaintiffs hired a forensic data expert, or hacker, to examine the car’s hardware directly. The expert was able to recover the “missing” collision snapshot, which contained crucial information about what the Autopilot system was “seeing” in the moments before impact.

The recovered data revealed three major details about Tesla’s actions and the Autopilot system’s failure:

• The Autopilot system had not issued a “Take Over Immediately” alert, despite approaching a T-intersection with a stationary vehicle and pedestrians in its path.
• Map data within the Autopilot ECU included a flag that the area was a “restricted Autosteer zone,” yet the system allowed Autopilot to remain engaged at full speed.
• The data showed that Tesla’s servers received and acknowledged the collision snapshot minutes after the incident, contradicting the company’s claims that it did not have the data.

The trial and jury’s verdict

During the trial, the jury was presented with clear evidence that Tesla had tried to hide data and mislead investigators. Tesla’s trial attorney admitted the company’s handling of the data was “clumsy” but denied misconduct, a claim the jury ultimately rejected. The jury’s verdict reflected their disapproval of Tesla’s conduct and the Autopilot system’s failure. Tesla was ordered to pay $243 million to the victims, including $200 million in punitive damages.

The substantial punitive damages suggest the jury was heavily influenced by Tesla’s attempts to conceal evidence. The plaintiffs’ attorneys stated that they had declined a lower settlement offer because their clients wanted to expose Tesla’s behavior and promote safety, which was more important to them than seeking financial compensation.

Wider implications and industry impact

This landmark verdict is significant for both Tesla and the broader autonomous vehicle industry. The case brought increased scrutiny to Tesla’s marketing of Autopilot and Full Self-Driving features, which plaintiffs argued misled drivers into over-relying on the technology.

The verdict emphasizes the critical importance of data transparency for automakers involved in liability cases and sends a clear message to the auto and tech industries that their legal duties to protect consumers supersede market hype. By setting a precedent that companies can be held liable even when the driver is also at fault, the case’s outcome could embolden more individuals to sue manufacturers over failures in advanced driver-assistance systems.

What happens next?

Tesla has already filed a motion to overturn or reduce the verdict, arguing that the award was improperly influenced and excessive. Regardless of the outcome of any appeal, the Florida federal court’s decision has already had a lasting impact, highlighting the intersection of advanced technology, corporate responsibility, and consumer safety.

The post Hacker Uncovers Data: Tesla Found Withholding Evidence in Florida Wrongful Death Case appeared first on The Online Automotive Marketplace.

2025-09-02T18:17:07Z