New Jersey man sues Tesla after Garden State Parkway crash kills 3 family members

Brian Niemietz, New York Daily News on Jun 24, 2025

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A New Jersey man is suing Tesla after his parents and teenage sister were killed in a Garden State Parkway crash he blames on a “defective and unreasonably dangerous design.”

According to plaintiff Max Dryerman, the 2024 Model S was equipped with features including forward collision warning, lane departure avoidance and emergency lane departure that should have prevented the car from veering off the road last Sept. 14.

But instead the car struck a guardrail and a concrete bridge support in Woodbridge shortly before midnight, according to NJ.com. Dryerman’s 54-year-old parents in the front seat and his 17-year-old sister in the back seat were all killed in the crash. They had all reportedly been wearing seat belts.

The lawsuit alleges the Tesla’s design was to blame for the car swerving out of its lane and not braking correctly, according to Reuters. The complaint also blames Tesla owner Elon Musk’s 2016 statement that his company’s autopilot function was “probably better” than a human driver for misleading Dryerman’s father, who was behind the wheel.

The lawsuit was filed last week in a Camden federal court. Tesla did not respond to NJ.com or Reuters’ requests for comment.

Tesla started the week with a “robotaxi launch” in Austin, Texas, that featured about 10 driverless cars carrying passengers, according to Fast Company.

“Super congratulations to the @Tesla_AI software & chip design teams on a successful @Robotaxi launch!!” Musk wrote on his X social media platform.

He thanked his staff for putting a decade of work into the launch.

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