Benavides v. Tesla: a jury assigns a third of the responsibility for a 2019 Autopilot crash to the maker of the system, Miami, 1 August 2025
The typed evidence object. This is the working store; the case page is the reader's form.
| Layer / facet | Value | Type | Sources | Conf. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mandate: principal | The driver, under the owner's manual's warnings; Tesla as designer and seller | interpretation | CarComplaints, 'Miami Tesla Autopilot Trial: $329 Million Jury Verdict', David A. Wood, 1 August 2025 (first published 23 July 2025 during the trial); Jury Verdict Form, Benavides v. Tesla, Inc., No. 21-cv-21940-BLOOM/Torres (S.D. Fla.), ECF No. 534, 1 August 2025 | high |
| Mandate: objective | Driver assistance with cruise control; the owner's manual warned that Autopilot was primarily intended for highways and freeways | assertion | CarComplaints, 'Miami Tesla Autopilot Trial: $329 Million Jury Verdict', David A. Wood, 1 August 2025 (first published 23 July 2025 during the trial) | high |
| Mandate: disclosed to supervisor | Warnings existed in the owner's manual; the jury nonetheless assigned a third of the responsibility to Tesla. The Register does not know the jury's reasons | interpretation | CarComplaints, 'Miami Tesla Autopilot Trial: $329 Million Jury Verdict', David A. Wood, 1 August 2025 (first published 23 July 2025 during the trial); Final Judgment, Benavides v. Tesla, Inc., No. 21-cv-21940-BLOOM/Torres (S.D. Fla.), ECF No. 538 (signed 1 Aug 2025, entered 4 Aug 2025) | medium |
| Actor | Autopilot on a 2019 Model S | fact | Order on Amended Renewed Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law or, Alternatively, Motion for New Trial, Benavides v. Tesla, Inc., No. 21-cv-21940-BLOOM/Torres (S.D. Fla.), ECF No. 612 (signed 19 Feb 2026, entered 20 Feb 2026); CarComplaints, 'Miami Tesla Autopilot Trial: $329 Million Jury Verdict', David A. Wood, 1 August 2025 (first published 23 July 2025 during the trial) | high |
| Inputs | A T-intersection at the end of Card Sound Road in Key Largo; the driver had dropped his phone and was looking for it | assertion | CarComplaints, 'Miami Tesla Autopilot Trial: $329 Million Jury Verdict', David A. Wood, 1 August 2025 (first published 23 July 2025 during the trial) | high |
| Decision | Plaintiffs alleged the car detected the stop sign and obstacles but gave no warning and never braked; Tesla's position is that the driver was pressing the accelerator, which overrode Autopilot, and that the car continuously warned him that pressing the accelerator had turned off cruise-control braking and gave a take-over warning 1.5 seconds before impact | assertion | CarComplaints, 'Miami Tesla Autopilot Trial: $329 Million Jury Verdict', David A. Wood, 1 August 2025 (first published 23 July 2025 during the trial); Benavides v. Tesla, S.D. Fla., ECF No. 603, Tesla's reply in support of its post-trial motion, 7 November 2025 | medium |
| Envelope: constraints | The owner's manual said Autopilot is primarily intended for highways and freeways and should not be used on city streets; it could nonetheless be engaged on this road | assertion | CarComplaints, 'Miami Tesla Autopilot Trial: $329 Million Jury Verdict', David A. Wood, 1 August 2025 (first published 23 July 2025 during the trial) | medium |
| Envelope: basis | Whether engagement should have been technically restricted to the intended roads was at issue in the case; the Register has not seen the trial evidence on it | interpretation | CarComplaints, 'Miami Tesla Autopilot Trial: $329 Million Jury Verdict', David A. Wood, 1 August 2025 (first published 23 July 2025 during the trial); Benavides v. Tesla, S.D. Fla., ECF No. 603, Tesla's reply in support of its post-trial motion, 7 November 2025 | low |
| Action | With the driver pressing the accelerator, the speed rose to about 62 mph, overriding the 45 mph cruise setting; the car went through the intersection and hit a parked Tahoe, which was pushed into two pedestrians | assertion | CarComplaints, 'Miami Tesla Autopilot Trial: $329 Million Jury Verdict', David A. Wood, 1 August 2025 (first published 23 July 2025 during the trial) | high |
| Outcome | State: harm. One fatality, one serious injury. Verdict: Tesla 33% responsible; Tesla's share of compensatory damages $42.57 million, plus $200 million in punitive damages; judgment of $242.57 million against Tesla. As of Mar 2026. | fact | Final Judgment, Benavides v. Tesla, Inc., No. 21-cv-21940-BLOOM/Torres (S.D. Fla.), ECF No. 538 (signed 1 Aug 2025, entered 4 Aug 2025); Order on Amended Renewed Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law or, Alternatively, Motion for New Trial, Benavides v. Tesla, Inc., No. 21-cv-21940-BLOOM/Torres (S.D. Fla.), ECF No. 612 (signed 19 Feb 2026, entered 20 Feb 2026) | high |
| Evidence: event | What crash data existed and when Tesla held it was contested at trial; Tesla's post-trial brief says the court ruled the data was not withheld in bad faith | assertion | Benavides v. Tesla, S.D. Fla., ECF No. 603, Tesla's reply in support of its post-trial motion, 7 November 2025 | medium |
| Evidence: interpretation | The evidence question (what data existed and who held it) was part of the case at trial; the Register records it as contested, not as an established fact or intent | interpretation | Benavides v. Tesla, S.D. Fla., ECF No. 603, Tesla's reply in support of its post-trial motion, 7 November 2025; Order on Amended Renewed Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law or, Alternatively, Motion for New Trial, Benavides v. Tesla, Inc., No. 21-cv-21940-BLOOM/Torres (S.D. Fla.), ECF No. 612 (signed 19 Feb 2026, entered 20 Feb 2026) | medium |
| Recovery: automated fallback | No automatic stop: the car did not stop before the intersection. Whether it signalled a hand-off is disputed: plaintiffs allege it gave no alert and never braked; Tesla says it continuously warned that cruise control would not brake while the accelerator was pressed and gave a take-over warning 1.5 seconds before impact | interpretation | CarComplaints, 'Miami Tesla Autopilot Trial: $329 Million Jury Verdict', David A. Wood, 1 August 2025 (first published 23 July 2025 during the trial); Benavides v. Tesla, S.D. Fla., ECF No. 603, Tesla's reply in support of its post-trial motion, 7 November 2025 | medium |
| Recovery: accountability | Judgment against Tesla on a 33% share; the driver settled separately and was not a defendant. Tesla's post-trial motions were denied on 20 February 2026 and it appealed to the Eleventh Circuit on 16 March 2026 | fact | Final Judgment, Benavides v. Tesla, Inc., No. 21-cv-21940-BLOOM/Torres (S.D. Fla.), ECF No. 538 (signed 1 Aug 2025, entered 4 Aug 2025); Benavides v. Tesla, S.D. Fla., ECF No. 616, Tesla's notice of appeal to the Eleventh Circuit, 16 March 2026; CarComplaints, 'Miami Tesla Autopilot Trial: $329 Million Jury Verdict', David A. Wood, 1 August 2025 (first published 23 July 2025 during the trial) | high |
Controls
| Status | Control | Canonical |
|---|---|---|
| failed | Driver attention as the envelope | C-M2 Machine-enforceable scope |
| failed | Design-domain restriction (engagement allowed off-domain); Hard geofence to the design domain (absent) | C-E2 Hard domain restriction |
| succeeded | Vehicle data capture (the data survived on the car's Autopilot computer and was obtained for trial after a dispute over whether Tesla had withheld it) | C-V1 Independent audit log |
| absent | Stop at end-of-road | C-D2 Halt and hand off on uncertainty or refusal |
Inference
inference Here a jury held the maker of a driver-assistance system partly responsible, with punitive damages, not only the driver. It is the Register's only case so far in which a jury, rather than a regulator or prosecutor, placed responsibility on the maker of the automation. The judgment is under appeal, and the verdict form does not show the jury's reasons.
Sources
| ID | Record | Type | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| SDFL | Final Judgment, Benavides v. Tesla, Inc., No. 21-cv-21940-BLOOM/Torres (S.D. Fla.), ECF No. 538 (signed 1 Aug 2025, entered 4 Aug 2025) | court primary record | storage.courtlistener.com ↗ checked 2026-10-13 |
| CC | CarComplaints, 'Miami Tesla Autopilot Trial: $329 Million Jury Verdict', David A. Wood, 1 August 2025 (first published 23 July 2025 during the trial) | press pointer secondary: press report | carcomplaints.com ↗ checked 2026-10-13 |
| ECF603 | Benavides v. Tesla, S.D. Fla., ECF No. 603, Tesla's reply in support of its post-trial motion, 7 November 2025 (interest: defendant's own filing (Tesla)) | court primary record | storage.courtlistener.com ↗ checked 2026-10-13 |
| ECF616 | Benavides v. Tesla, S.D. Fla., ECF No. 616, Tesla's notice of appeal to the Eleventh Circuit, 16 March 2026 (interest: defendant's own filing (Tesla)) | court primary record | storage.courtlistener.com ↗ checked 2026-10-13 |
| ECF534 | Jury Verdict Form, Benavides v. Tesla, Inc., No. 21-cv-21940-BLOOM/Torres (S.D. Fla.), ECF No. 534, 1 August 2025 | court primary record | storage.courtlistener.com ↗ checked 2026-10-20 |
| ECF612 | Order on Amended Renewed Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law or, Alternatively, Motion for New Trial, Benavides v. Tesla, Inc., No. 21-cv-21940-BLOOM/Torres (S.D. Fla.), ECF No. 612 (signed 19 Feb 2026, entered 20 Feb 2026) | court primary record | storage.courtlistener.com ↗ checked 2026-10-20 |