Preliminary NTSB findings: Driver in fatal Tesla crash in Katy overrode self-driving mode 17%
By Kyle McClenagan8%
7/15/2026, 9:46:26 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 16 faulty reasoning types, including Framing Effect, Confirmation Bias, and Appeal to Authority, with Ambiguity (Equivocation) as the most egregious example at 19.2% saturation with 82 hits. Analysis detected 763 faulty-reasoning hits from 428 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 32.7% and a BS Rank of 17% (18,194 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 83.10% of the article peer group.
The man who crashed a Tesla into a home in Katy, killing a 76-year-old woman, overrode the vehicle's self-driving system before the crash, according to preliminary findings released Wednesday by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
The NTSB is investigating the June 19 fatal crash in which a Tesla Model 3 crashed into a Houston-area home, killing Martha Avila.
The driver of the vehicle, 44-year-old Michael Butler, claimed the car was in autopilot at the time of the crash, according to responding authorities.
However, Butler was later arrested and charged with manslaughter after an investigation by Harris County law enforcement found he allegedly overrode Tesla's self-driving mode.
The NTSB's preliminary findings corroborate that account.
"At the time of the crash, the driver had engaged Tesla's Advanced Driver Assistance System, Full Self-Driving (Supervised)," the NTSB wrote on its website.
"Electronic data recovered from the vehicle indicated that before the crash, the driver manually overrode [Full Self-Driving (Supervised)] by pressing the accelerator pedal to 100%, and the vehicle's speed was greater than 70 mph when the crash occurred."
The NTSB noted the report released Wednesday is preliminary and subject to change.
Butler's manslaughter case is pending.
His defense attorney was not immediately available for comment Wednesday.
Following the crash, Avila's daughter and son-in-law filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Tesla and Butler.
The family's attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the NTSB's preliminary findings.
The lawsuit is pending, court records show.
After the crash gained nationwide attention, Tesla CEO Elon Musk made a post on his own social media platform saying authorities' initial account of the crash — which included Butler's claim the vehicle was in autopilot mode — "made no sense."
"FSD [full self-driving] drives slowly through neighborhood streets and this was a high-speed crash!"
Musk wrote.
Ashok Elluswamy, the vice president of AI software at Tesla, responded to a post by Musk and claimed the driver manually overrode the self-driving functionality.
"In this case, the driver manually overrode self-driving by pressing the accelerator all the way to 100% of the accel pedal in this residential area," Elluswamy wrote on social media.
"They reached a speed of 73 mph during the crash, and had the accelerator pressed even after the crash."
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the NTSB's report.
In its Wednesday release, the NTSB said all aspects of the crash remain under investigation and it plans to issue "safety recommendations to prevent similar crashes."
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