A lawsuit filed in federal court claims that a Tesla Model 3 experienced a sudden, uncontrollable acceleration due to design flaws, resulting in a catastrophic crash into a utility pole. The impact caused the vehicle to catch fire, leading to the tragic death of a woman and severe injuries to her husband.

According to the legal documents submitted on Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, another design defect involving the car’s door handles prevented bystanders from rescuing the occupants, Jeff and Wendy Dennis, from the flaming wreck.

The incident occurred on January 7, 2023, in Tacoma, Washington, claiming the life of Wendy Dennis. Her husband, Jeff, sustained serious leg burns and additional injuries as detailed in the complaint.

Attempts to reach the attorneys representing the plaintiffs and Tesla for comments on Monday were unsuccessful.

The lawsuit is seeking punitive damages in California, as the couple’s 2018 Model 3 was both designed and manufactured there. At the time, Tesla’s headquarters were also based in California, prior to their relocation to Texas.

Among other financial claims, the lawsuit seeks wrongful death damages for both Jeff Dennis and his late wife’s estate. It asks for a jury trial.

Tesla doors have been at the center of several crash cases because the battery powering the unlocking mechanism shuts off in case of a crash, and the manual releases that override that system are known for being difficult to find.

Last month, the parents of two California college students killed in a Tesla crash sued the carmaker, saying the students were trapped in the vehicle as it burst into flames because of a design flaw that prevented them from opening the doors. In September, federal regulators opened an investigation into complaints by Tesla drivers of problems with stuck doors.

Jeff and Wendy Dennis were running errands when the Tesla suddenly accelerated for at least five seconds. Jeff Dennis swerved to miss other vehicles before the car hit the utility pole and burst into flames, the lawsuit says.

The automatic emergency braking system did not engage before hitting the pole, the lawsuit alleges, even though it is designed to apply the brakes when a frontal collision is considered unavoidable.

Bystanders couldn’t open the doors because the handles do not work from the outside because they also rely on battery power to operate.. The doors also couldn’t be opened from inside because the battery had shut off because of the fire, and a manual override button is hard to find and use, the lawsuit alleges.

The heat from the fire prevented bystanders from getting close enough to try to break out the windows.

Defective battery chemistry and battery pack design unnecessarily increased the risk of a catastrophic fire after the impact with the pole, the lawsuit alleges.

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Thiessen reported from Anchorage, Alaska.