The family of a young woman who died in 2019 after being hit by a Tesla using the autopilot feature, along with her boyfriend who survived the deadly collision, are speaking out after the automaker’s recent safety recall. They, along with their attorneys said the recall confirms safety concerns they have voiced in a lawsuit against the automaker.
NBC 6 reported on the deadly crash involving Dillon Argulo, who was 27 at the time, and Naibel Benavides Leon.
“She was so full of dreams,” said Benavides’ older sister Neima Benavides. “The joy of our family, the baby.”
Neima said Naibel had just come to this country from Cuba three years before. In April of 2019, while out on a date with her boyfriend Dillon Angulo, the pair pulled onto the shoulder on Card Sound Road in the Upper Keys.
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“A Tesla driver, using autopilot, autosteer and the autopilot features. It failed him and he came crashing through road signs, off the road into a parked vehicle,” said Todd Poses, an attorney for Angulo and the Benavides family. “Which ultimately led to the death of Naibel, and injuries to Dillon.”
Dashcam video provided by attorneys Poses and Adam Boumel, who are representing both Angulo and the Benavides family, showed the Tesla involved heading straight toward the couple’s SUV, speeding through flashing lights and reflective signs before crashing into the parked vehicle.
“She called my mom 15 minutes before the accident, just to let her know, ‘I'm on my way home,’” Neima said. “The thing that we knew was the police coming at five in the morning, just you know, you know, she is not coming home anymore.”
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“I woke up in the hospital and I didn’t know what happened to me,” said Angulo, who said he still suffers from serious injuries as well as severe anxiety and PTSD.
Both Angulo and the Benavides family are involved in a lawsuit against the automaker and have alleged for years the autopilot and autosteer features were unsafe. They believe the technology allows drivers to use the function on roadways for which it was not designed.
“It was only supposed to be used on limited access highways, meaning roads like I-95 or the Turnpike that have no cross streets, no intersection,” Boumel said.
Tesla has previously weighed in on the lawsuit, writing in part on Monday on social media platform X, “The Benavides lawsuit alleges the driver “carelessly and/or/recklessly drove through the intersection…”
Then, just days later, Tesla announced the recall of more than 2 million vehicles requiring a software update due specifically to autopilot safety concerns after federal regulators found the system did not do enough to keep drivers engaged.
For Angulo, who is still struggling to recover, the recall is a step in the right direction. But he said it’s not enough.
“You know, I feel like an experiment,” he said. “I feel like me and Naibel were experimented on, and this technology was out before it was safe.”
Attorneys representing Tesla in this case did not immediately respond to NBC 6. In court filings, the company denied the allegations, saying in part that the vehicle was not "defective or unreasonably dangerous," and Tesla cannot be held responsible for the accident or the actions of others.
