Highlights

• Tesla faces potential legal trouble over a lawsuit involving a toddler starting a Model X SUV, pinning his mother against a garage.
• The plaintiff alleges Tesla's SUV design was defective, leading to injuries and a premature birth, while Tesla insists Harcourt's actions caused the accident.
• This case sheds light on safety concerns surrounding Tesla vehicles and may impact how the jury assigns liability in the ongoing legal battle.

Tesla could end up owing big bucks in a civil suit over a Tesla Model X SUV that a toddler was allegedly able to start and crash into his pregnant mother.

Opening arguments are expected to get underway in Santa Clara County, California, in mid-April over the safety of Elon Musk's electric vehicles.

According to court documents, plaintiff Mallory Harcourt and her husband were enticed to buy the $80,000 Model X after seeing advertisements calling it the "safest, quickest, most capable SUV ever."

She filed suit against Tesla in 2019, accusing the company of "negligence, consumer fraud, and product liability" after the accident — which occurred just four days after Tesla purchase.

Harcourt, who was eight months pregnant at the time, alleges that the vehicle's "defective" design allowed her then two-year-old son to start the car by himself and accelerate into her, pinning her against the garage.

Court documents indicate that Harcourt punctured her thigh and sustained broken bones (including her pelvis) during the incident. A week later, she gave birth to her daughter prematurely.

Attorneys for Harcourt were quoted as saying: "Mallory's injuries healed over time, but her pain is permanent."

They continued:

No one could reasonably expect a two-year-old who climbs into the floorboard of a vehicle that is in Park with its parking brake on to be able to cause the vehicle to start, shift out of Park and into Drive and move. Such a vehicle is defective.

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Harcourt's Account Of The Accident

Court documents provided the plaintiff's timeline of the incident, which was as follows:

► Harcourt said she pulled the new Model X into the driveway of her Santa Barbara home, when "... the vehicle automatically shifted into Park and set the parking brake ...";

► Harcourt said she took her son out of his car seat, but never closed the car door;

► She said she realized she had forgotten her house keys and was unable to get into the home, and she decided to change her son's diaper in the garage;

► Harcourt claims the toddler got loose, and climbed into the driver's side of the vehicle;

► Per the suit: "He then contacted the brake pedal, which started the car and automatically closed the driver's door. Seconds later, [the toddler] reached up and touched the gear shift lever on the stalk of the steering wheel, which shifted the car out of Park and into Drive ...";

► Per the suit: [The toddler] then contacted the accelerator pedal, which caused the car to begin moving forward. From the time [he] entered the Tesla until it began moving was mere seconds ...";

► Harcourt said she had "virtually no time to react" to the vehicle's alleged sudden acceleration;

► Per the suit: "She moved towards the front of the Tesla hoping the vehicle would recognize her and stop since the Tesla was equipped with technology that she understood would recognize if the vehicle was going to hit something and stop ...";

► She said that the Model X accelerated, "picked her up just below her waist and lifted her off the ground, then crushed her against bicycles and various clutter at the back of the garage ...";

► Neighbors came to Harcourt's rescue and helped free her.

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What Tesla Claims Happened

Harcourt's "Poor Decisions" Caused The Accident

As the suit was initially filed in 2019, Tesla has had the opportunity to counter the plaintiff's version of events:

► In a trial brief, Tesla's attorneys wrote: "The evidence will prove that Ms. Harcourt was the sole cause of her injuries and that sophisticated driver assistance features in the Model X saved her and her children from far more serious injuries ...";

► Per the brief: "Ms. Harcourt negligently left her two-year-old son unattended in her driveway with access to a vehicle that had two doors open and the keys inside, and for long enough to allow him to get into the vehicle, step on the pedals, and put it into gear ...";

► Harcourt then "made the highly extraordinary decision to jump in front of the Model X as it was moving ... this entire incident could have been avoided by either keeping watch over the toddler, or, failing that, using the PIN-to-Drive option ...";

► Per the brief: "Ms. Harcourt admits she did not know where her son was at this time, but when she saw the Model X moving into the garage, she — at 8 months pregnant — nonetheless stepped in front of the vehicle, now claiming she believed that would make it stop ...";

► Per the brief: "In no uncertain terms, Ms. Harcourt's own actions caused her injuries, and not any defect in Model X's design ...";

► Per the brief: Harcourt's "poor decisions...put herself, her son, and her unborn child at significant risk ...";

► Tesla's attorneys concluded that the Model X "functioned exactly as designed, and very likely saved Ms. Harcourt's life."

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Million Dollar Lawsuits

"Over the past few years, Tesla has come under increased scrutiny from regulators regarding driver-assist technology," Business Insider reported.

Although many of Tesla's past safety suits over its autopilot system culminated in undisclosed settlements, a recent case saw the company penalized more than $10 million for a fatal crash that occurred in 2022, killing two teenagers in an accident involving a Model S.

A March 2024 story in the Wall Street Journal disclosed that Tesla and other car manufacturers received "poor grades in a study that reviewed driver-assistance systems, finding little evidence the technology provides safety benefits to motorists."

The jury in the Harcourt case may find the plaintiff herself liable for the crash, or it could penalize Tesla for a design so easy to drive that even a toddler could start it.

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