Tesla Settles Lawsuit Over Fatal Crash Linked to Technician's Unauthorized Speed Limit Removal

Tesla has reached a settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of 18-year-old passenger Edgar Monserrat Martinez. In May 2018, Martinez died in a crash in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when the vehicle he was riding in—traveling at 116 mph (approximately 186.7 km/h), far exceeding the posted speed limit of 30 mph (about 48.3 km/h)—lost control, struck a concrete wall, and caught fire. The crash also killed 18-year-old driver Barrett Riley and ejected another passenger, who survived. The lawsuit alleged that in March 2018, after Riley received a speeding ticket, his father, James Riley, requested Tesla install a speed-limiting device on the car to cap its maximum speed at 85 mph (approximately 136.8 km/h). However, a Tesla technician later removed this speed limiter at a service center in Dania Beach without the parents’ consent. Martinez’s family accused Tesla of negligence for allowing a minor to bypass safety restrictions set by his parents and further claimed that defects in the vehicle’s battery exacerbated the post-crash fire. Tesla denied any wrongdoing, arguing that regardless of whether the speed limiter was installed, the driver’s reckless behavior was the primary cause of the accident. In a similar lawsuit filed by the Riley family, which went to trial in 2022, a jury assigned 1% liability to Tesla, 90% to Barrett Riley himself, and 9% to his father, resulting in total damages of $10.5 million, with Tesla paying approximately $105,000. Martinez’s case had been scheduled to go to trial on April 20, 2026, but one day before jury selection was set to begin, the court ruled to dismiss Tesla from the list of defendants. Both parties immediately confirmed they had reached a settlement, though terms were not disclosed. Notably, this crash prompted Tesla in June 2018 to roll out via an over-the-air software update a PIN-protected speed-limit mode, enabling owners to restrict vehicle speed between 50 and 90 mph. Although this case was unrelated to Tesla’s Autopilot system, it aligns with Tesla’s recent trend of settling lawsuits before jury trials. Previously, a Miami jury awarded $243 million in damages in another Autopilot-related fatal crash, assigning Tesla 33% liability. Since then, Tesla has privately settled at least four similar wrongful death lawsuits. Currently, Tesla faces more than 20 active lawsuits in the U.S., with potential cumulative damages reaching up to $14.5 billion.