{"id":214646,"date":"2026-06-23T22:49:59","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T22:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/1-person-killed-as-tesla-on-autopilot-crashes-through-texas-home-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T22:49:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T22:49:59","slug":"1-person-killed-as-tesla-on-autopilot-crashes-through-texas-home-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/1-person-killed-as-tesla-on-autopilot-crashes-through-texas-home-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"1 person killed as Tesla on autopilot crashes through Texas home – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A woman is dead after a Tesla in autopilot mode crashed through her Texas home Friday night, authorities said.
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The driver, identified as Michael Butler, was traveling east in a Tesla Model 3 about 8 p.m. when he crashed through a brick home in the Houston suburb of Katy, the Harris County Sheriff\u2019s Office said in a statement.
The car struck 76-year-old Martha Avila, who was in the home. She was airlifted to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead, the sheriff\u2019s department said.
Butler told authorities that the vehicle was in self-driving mode at the time of the crash. The sheriff\u2019s office said Butler showed no signs of intoxication and was cooperative during the investigation.
\u201cAt this time, investigators have found no evidence of a mechanical malfunction,\u201d the sheriff\u2019s office told NBC News Tuesday. \u201cHowever, it is important to note that the investigation is not complete. Once all evidence has been gathered, the investigative file will be presented to the Harris County District Attorney\u2019s Office to determine whether criminal charges are appropriate.\u201d
The district attorney\u2019s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Butler, who was also injured in the crash, was taken to a nearby hospital. Efforts to contact him were unsuccessful.
Tesla did not respond to multiple requests for comment. But in a social media post<\/a> Monday night, CEO Elon Musk responded to a news story about the crash.
\u201cFSD drives slowly through neighborhood streets, and this was a high-speed crash!\u201d he wrote on X, referring to the vehicle\u2019s Full Self-Driving mode.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Monday that it is opening a special investigation into the crash.
A spokesperson for the law firm Zehl & Associates said in a statement that it planned to file a lawsuit on behalf of Avila\u2019s family.
Jennifer Carson, who lives a few doors down from Avila, said she was at home Friday night watching a movie with a friend when she heard the crash.
\u201cIt sounded like thunder,\u201d she said.
Ring camera video posted by Avila\u2019s daughter, Jennifer Barbour, showed the Tesla traveling at what appeared to be a very high rate of speed before disappearing from view, seemingly crashing into the home.
\u201cThis is the car flying into my home. My mom didn\u2019t deserve this,\u201d Barbour captioned the video.
Security video that was captured by Carson\u2019s neighbor and shared with NBC News also showed the car driving through the subdivision in the moments before impact. Carson, who also saw the video, said she couldn\u2019t believe how fast the Tesla appeared to be moving.
\u201cI don\u2019t know how someone could have gotten as fast as they did,\u201d she said.
Authorities have said Butler\u2019s Tesla was moving at a \u201chigh rate of speed\u201d before the crash. Carson said she often hears cars revving their engines and speeding down her street and in the surrounding neighborhood.
Carson didn\u2019t know Avila or her family well, but she said they\u2019ve lived in the neighborhood for years. Another neighbor who spoke to NBC affiliate KPRC of Houston<\/a> described Avila as a second mother.
\u201cIt\u2019s a tragedy,\u201d she told the station.
The crash has left the home uninhabitable, forcing Avila\u2019s family into temporary housing, according to Avila\u2019s granddaughter, Kelly Avila, who started a GoFundMe to raise money for the family.
Tesla\u2019s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving modes have been contentious features in some Tesla vehicles since their debut.
In December 2023, Tesla recalled more than 2 million cars after regulators said the company hadn\u2019t done enough to ensure that drivers were paying attention when Autopilot is activated.
The recall came after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began investigating Tesla\u2019s Autopilot over a series of accidents involving the technology.
In December 2025, a California judge ruled that Tesla\u2019s marketing around Autopilot and Full Self-Driving modes had been deceptive and that the company had falsely implied its cars were fully autonomous, which they are not.
Mirna Alsharif is a breaking news reporter for NBC News.
Meriam Bouarrouj is an NBC News assignment editor.
Tim Stelloh is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeA woman is dead after a Tesla in autopilot mode crashed through her Texas home Friday night, authorities said. Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.The driver, identified as Michael Butler, was traveling east in a Tesla Model 3 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":214647,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-214646","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}