Tesla has settled a lawsuit tied to a fatal 2023 crash involving a vehicle running Full Self-Driving, though federal investigations into the system are far from over.
The lawsuit was filed by the daughter of Johna Story, a 71-year-old woman struck by a Tesla Model Y after she stepped out of her own vehicle to direct traffic around a sun-glare-related crash. Bloomberg first reported the settlement. Terms were not disclosed.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened its investigation into FSD (Supervised) in 2024 after four reported crashes in low-visibility conditions, including the Story incident. The agency was looking at whether the system could properly detect and respond to reduced visibility from sun glare, fog, or dust.
In March 2026, NHTSA upgraded the probe to an engineering analysis, stating that “available incident data raise concerns that Tesla’s degradation detection system fails to detect and/or warn the driver appropriately under degraded visibility conditions.” The possible outcomes include a recall.
Separately, the federal agency opened another investigation in October 2025 after reports that FSD caused vehicles to run red lights or cross into the wrong lane.
The settlement closes the family’s case, but the NHTSA engineering analysis remains open.
