Tesla has settled a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of an 18-year-old passenger killed in a 116 mph crash in Fort Lauderdale.Plaintiffs alleged that a Tesla technician disabled a speed limiter without parental consent. The settlement, with undisclosed terms, was confirmed Monday just as jury selection was set to begin in Broward County court. The crash that inspired Tesla’s Speed Limit Mode The case stems from a tragic May 2018 crash that killed both driver Barrett Riley, 18, and his passenger Edgar Monserratt Martinez, also 18. A third passenger was ejected from the 2014 Tesla Model S and survived. Riley was traveling at 116 mph in a 30 mph zone along A1A in Fort Lauderdale when he lost control, slammed into a concrete wall, and the vehicle caught fire. Advertisement - scroll for more content The crash was devastating — but the lawsuit centered on what happened months before. After Riley received a speeding ticket for driving 112 mph in March 2018, his father James Riley had Tesla install a speed limiter on the vehicle, capping its top speed at 85 mph. According to the lawsuit, Barrett Riley later went to a Tesla service center in Dania Beach, where a technician removed the speed limiter without his parents’ knowledge or consent. The Martinez family alleged that Tesla was negligent for allowing a teenager to have the safety restriction removed — a restriction his parents had specifically put in place. They also alleged the vehicle’s battery was defective and contributed to the fire that killed their son. In 100+ mph crashes, vehicles tend to catch on fires whether they are powered by batteries or gas. Tesla denied wrongdoing throughout the case, maintaining that Riley’s “reckless” operation of the vehicle caused the crash “with or without a speed limiter.” A familiar case with a different outcome This crash has been through the legal system before. Barrett Riley’s own family sued Tesla and went to trial in 2022. The jury found Tesla only 1% negligent, assigning 90% of the blame to Barrett Riley and 9% to his father. The total award was $10.5 million, meaning Tesla’s share came out to roughly $105,000. The Martinez family’s case — representing the passenger who had no control over the vehicle’s speed — was a different matter. It was set to go to trial on April 20, 2026, but Tesla was removed as a defendant via court order the day before, with the settlement confirmed as jury selection got underway. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Interestingly, the tragedy directly inspired a Tesla safety feature. In June 2018, just weeks after the crash, Tesla introduced its Speed Limit Mode as an over-the-air software update — explicitly dedicating the feature to Barrett Riley’s memory. The feature allows owners to cap their vehicle’s maximum speed between 50 and 90 mph, protected by a PIN code. A growing pattern of settlements While this case stands apart from Tesla’s Autopilot litigation, it fits into a broader pattern of the automaker settling cases before they reach a jury. Since a Miami jury hit Tesla with a $243 million verdict in a fatal Autopilot crash case last year — finding the company 33% liable — Tesla has quietly settled at least four additional wrongful death lawsuits rather than risk another jury trial. As we reported last week, Tesla is now facing up to $14.5 billion in total legal exposure across more than 20 active litigation tracks. Stay up to date with the latest content by subscribing to Electrek on Google News. You’re reading Electrek— experts who break news about Tesla, electric vehicles, and green energy, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow Electrek on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our YouTube channel for the latest reviews.
+58 others
