A tragic accident involving a Tesla vehicle has led to the death of a father and son, with a lawsuit claiming that a malfunction in the car’s electronic door handles contributed to their inability to escape a fire.
According to documents reviewed by the Daily Mail, Margarrett Smith, 35, and his 14-year-old son, Karter Breon Smith, were traveling in a Tesla Model 3 on Georgia Highway 35 in Thomasville when their car suddenly left the road, collided with a tree, and ignited in flames on December 23, 2024.
Margarrett had just picked up his son in Florida, intending to drive back to Georgia for Christmas, as reported by his mother to the Tallahassee Democrat.
Before their departure, the teenager said goodbye to his mother with a hug and a kiss after loading his bags into the car’s trunk.
Sadly, the journey to Atlanta was never completed. Margarrett lost control of the Tesla, which veered into a pecan orchard, struck a tree, and burst into flames, as per reports from the media outlet.
Shantorria Herring, Karter’s mother, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the automaker. She told the publication, “They were asleep when it happened, and it was instant.”
The pair were unable to get out of the car, despite a witness rushing to help them, because the ‘handles on the doors were inoperable,’ the lawsuit said.
As a result, both were burned to death.
Margarrett Smith, 35, and his son, Karter Breon Smith, 14, burned to death inside a Tesla Model 3 after the father lost control of the vehicle and hit a tree
Margarrett had picked up his son in Tallahassee and they were driving back to his home in Atlanta to spend Christmas together when the crash occurred
The boy’s mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of her deceased son, claiming Tesla allowed a ‘defective’ vehicle to enter the market that was ‘unreasonably dangerous for its ordinary and intended purposes.’
Herring argued that the vehicle’s Autopilot system should have corrected its course and prevented it from leaving the road and striking a tree after Margarrett fell asleep at the wheel.
She added that the car’s lithium battery and electrical power storage system were also defective and were ‘not crashworthy and was prone to cause a post-collision thermal runaway and fire,’ the lawsuit said.
Tesla batteries are known to be troublesome to fire departments and nearly impossible to put out due to it generating heat.
‘Had the battery pack of the subject vehicle not been designed in a defective condition that was unreasonably dangerous for its intended purpose, plaintiff’s son would not have been killed in the post-collision thermal runaway and fire…’ the lawsuit read.
She also said the car’s inability to be opened from the outside, due to it relying on electrical power with no mechanical backup, resulted in her son and his father’s deaths.
‘Tesla failed to warn consumers, including the father of plaintiff’s decedent, that the Tesla Model 3 was not crashworthy and was unreasonably dangerous in the foreseeable event of a crash,’ the lawsuit said.
‘Rather than warnings about its safety record, Tesla disseminated marketing information to the consuming public, which represented that the Model 3 and other vehicles in its lineup were crashworthy safe for their intended purposes.’
Despite a witness trying to help them, the car’s door handle (stock image) didn’t worked and the inside of the car was allegedly inaccessible, a lawsuit claimed
Herring is seeking punitive damages in an unspecified amount, her attorney fees, and $15,500 for funeral expenses.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Herring’s lawyers and Tesla for comment.
The family remembers Karter as a ‘vibrant and spirited young soul’ who ‘left this world far too soon,’ his obituary read.
‘Karter’s infectious smile and boundless energy touched the lives of everyone who had the privilege to know him.’
Karter was an excellent student, who kept straight-A’s and had a ‘passion for sports.’ He was an avid soccer player and also enjoyed basketball, track, and football.
‘He wanted to be a basketball player,’ the mother told the Tallahassee Democrat. ‘But I always reiterated how important academics was.
‘Karter was going to be amazing whatever he did and whatever he decided to do because he put his all into it.’
The family remembers Karter has a vibrant soul, who touched the lives around him. He was also a straight-A student and enjoyed playing sports
Karter had dreams of being a basketball player and also enjoyed soccer and track
He also enjoyed spending time with his sister Shaliyah Jones, 20, and Vashanti Galloway, 18, his mother told the Tallahassee Democrat. And he often spent his weekends hanging out with friends.
Margarrett was a graduate of Florida A&M University and had been pursuing a doctorate degree at the time of the incident.
He had also started to help run his family’s trucking company at the time, the mother said.
