Tesla self-driving 'not aggressive enough,' driver accused of searching before deadly Katy crash

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/trending/article/tesla-crash-manslaughter-michael-butler-fsd-22330694.php Site allows limited views before paywalling. Open in incognito mode. Text from article below.

This one's looking like it had nothing to do with FSD or Tesla and everything to do with a dangerous and possibly unhinged driver.

Some of the salient points from the article -

A Harris County Sheriff's Office investigator wrote in a criminal complaint against David Michael Butler that after reviewing crash data and footage, she determined that Butler overrode Tesla’s Full Self-Driving Mode, pressing the accelerator all the way down to “100% pedal to the metal,” before hitting the curb, going airborne and crashing into the home.

..............................................................Officials obtained written consent from Butler to search and seize his Tesla and verbal consent to search his cell phone, Philipbar said in the complaint. Data from the vehicle included “videos from the Tesla’s dash-camera and exterior driver-door camera, as well as logs of the Tesla’s speed, accelerator pedal input, brake pedal input, steering activity, turn signal activity and more.”

Investigators with the sheriff’s office observed “multiple Google searches related to Tesla” made from Butler's phone in May, the complaint said, “indicating an apparent frustration with Tesla’s FSD mode,” or Tesla’s Full-Self Driving Mode.

Butler searched: “teslafsd not aggressive enough 2026 model,” “FSD is not aggressive enough for city driving,” and “tesla fsd too timid,” according to the complaint. 

......................................................She alleges Butler pressed the accelerator and overrode self-driving mode when the vehicle was about to turn, and that the steering wheel also changed from left to right, causing the vehicle to go straight into Avila's cul-de-sac instead, the complaint states.

“In about six seconds, the accelerator pedal was pressed all the way down to 100%, ‘pedal to the metal,’ and the vehicle reached a speed of 73 miles per hour, more than double the speed limit on that residential street,” Philipbar stated. The Tesla struck the curb in front of Avila's home before going airborne toward the front of the home, the complaint said. 

Philipbar said she researched FSD technology and spoke with a Harris County District Attorney’s Office investigator who had years of experience reconstructing crash scenes and previously analyzed Tesla vehicles involved in fatal crashes. 

“FSD mode was designed and is programmed to never travel at excessive or dangerous speeds in any location, unless the driver overrides the speed and gains control of the speed by pressing on the accelerator pedal,” Philipbar stated.

A Tesla factory semi was involved in fatal wreck in Northern Nevada near the Gigafactory last Sunday. The collision occurred on June 28, 2026 at 07:15 AM in clear weather. The truck slammed into the back of 2 cars that were stopped for a red light at approximately 60 miles per hour, with no attempt to stop. Reports say that the driver may have fallen asleep. Recent reports also say that Tesla has been actively testing self-drive in the area, including FSD and supervised modes. Tesla has long touted the advanced safety technologies of their semis, so it seems difficult to believe that a sleeping driver wouldn't have received a wake-up alert or that auto braking wouldn't have made some attempt. My intent of this post is not to bash Tesla, and I'm not an expert on their technology, but I am a Commercial driver and I know new trucks have collision avoidance systems.

edit to add link

https://youtu.be/7pUzQciXF0M?is=PVwP0uVDVYWO_A7T

Hello I am dealing with a complex situation that I’m really upset about and I’m not sure what to do as I’m about to lose my 2019 Tesla Model 3.

Tesla service called me a few days to let me know that my car is okay to stay on their lot for now but I have a limited amount of time before they tow it.

I am a wheelchair user, this last year has been especially tough having to move back in and rely on support from family while I focus on building myself back up again, I have also been on a medical leave of absence from work since late last year.

When I first started having issues I had to learn not just how to navigate the world from a wheelchair but even how to do things like how to get dressed on my own and how to drive again using new tools like hand controls.

When I became independent enough that I could drive on my own again without any assistance it was like I was in heaven not only did I not have to rely on rides from friends or family to get out of the house anymore but I could even go out and run errands or do favors too!

Right now I’m working with the department of rehabilitative services to get permanent hand controls installed on my car that I wouldn’t be able to afford otherwise, FSD has been incredibly helpful allowing me to go farther than I would be able to without it since the portable hand controls require steady pressure they can be tiring to use and if I have to drive farther out I sometimes end up having to pull over and take breaks as needed whenever fsd got temporarily disabled.

Since the beginning of this year with the help of FSD I’m thankful to say I had a chance to participate in events like the Walk for Peace, the Roll to the Capital for Unite2FightParalysis, & the Wings for Life World Run.

( Quote from NPR:
“The monks won devotees along the way
Phommasan's return was moving for Jackson Vaughn, 33, who's used a wheelchair since 2024. He has been traveling beside the monks for a week, since they came through his hometown of Fredericksburg, Virginia. "There are so many things happening in the world," said Vaughn, who was among the crowd at the university entrance. "To see people gathering peacefully and setting an example, I think, is a wonderful thing." He was grateful to fellow travelers who helped him navigate icy roads. "I have been on this journey of trying to find my independence," Vaughn said. "But this really shows how connected we really are." Source: https://www.npr.org/2026/02/10/g-s1-109416/buddhist-monks-finish-walk-for-peace )

On Feb 10 the Monks were starting their journey from American University where we participated as they journeyed over to the National Cathedral. Later that night when I was on my way home I slipped on some ice (this was during the aftermath of the big winter storm that happened earlier in the year, snow was melting during the day and icing back over at night) went into the grass and hit a sign.

My car was taken to a shop to have it checked out and they confirmed that all the damage was cosmetic and that I mainly needed the bumper replaced and I think the fog lights but that the car was in fully drivable condition. I have no income right now and since they said the car was okay to drive I asked for the quote and let them know I would come back again when I could afford the deductible.

Sometime after I picked up my Model 3 (I want to say within a week or so but I’m going off memory right now) I tried using a supercharging station and I realized that it wasn’t working, after talking with customer support I was informed that somehow Tesla caught word that my car was in a fender bender and that it would have to be inspected at a service station in order to be allowed back on the supercharging network again.

Appointments at all the service stations in my state were over a month out, I initially set up an appointment but shortly after speaking with support I realized the speed was limited to 70mph now too so I called again to set up the earliest available appointment I could find hours away in a neighboring state.

I drove out to this appointment, they said my car needed an oil pump replacement that would be between $600-700 which I could not afford, I asked if the car was okay to drive for now until I could get the money together for the repair, I was assured yes that it was okay to drive but that the speed limit and supercharging network access would remain as is until the issue was resolved.

I spent the next few weeks talking with family & friends who were kind enough to help me get the funds together so my car could be repaired, when we had raised enough I set up the soonest available appointment I could find.

My car was fully drivable every day that I had it between the time of my accident in February to the time of the appointment where I had my car serviced at a Tesla Service Center in late April, they replaced the oil pump stating

“After the repair, a thorough test was conducted to ensure the vehicle operates at full power and speed without limitations.”

…I picked up my car the same day and as I’m on my way home the car makes a terrible noise and ends up with a critical failure, the screen is flashing red and the car goes into neutral while I try my best to get over to the side of the road (the best I could do was pull into the left turn lane and put my hazard lights on)

I try getting a tow and while I’m waiting I call Tesla support, they go over how to reboot the car and we get it into some kind of service mode that won’t allow the car to drive more than 10mph anytime it goes over that speed it makes a terrible noise but we’re able to navigate to the closest Tesla Service Center which was only a mile or so away.

Since I had just had my car serviced at another Tesla Service Center earlier in the day they let me check it in and was even able to get me a loaner vehicle on short notice which I am thankful for since I had appointments and other things to take care of while my car was in their hands, when I came back a few days later I was informed that among the things my car would need a full drive unit replacement and that the total cost in repairs would now be over ten thousand dollars!

I declined letting them know I could not afford a repair like that, and that I felt like this was not right considering the car had no failures like this before and suddenly died on the way home after having it serviced with Tesla.

I had the car checked out at another car shop that specializes in Tesla repairs, I let them know about what happened and I was told that the Oil Pump is directly connected to the drive unit and that if it wasn’t installed or calibrated properly they would essentially have to take everything apart again and start from the beginning and if they didn’t that it could result in a failure of the drive unit, and that if it was really busy they could’ve felt pushed to get to the next repair as quickly as possible rather than properly address the issue at hand.

I had it taken back to Tesla but before they towed it from the other shop we had to “jumpstart” the 12v battery so we could put it into tow mode, there I was able to confirm that the computer was working before I brought it back to Tesla.

Now in addition to a full drive unit replacement I’m being told that the computer is now unresponsive and that it “may have overheated due to lack of coolant (melted hose on the rear drive unit)” neither of which was quoted by the repair shop I took my car to outside of Tesla to have a second opinion.

Tesla keeps on stating that “this is unrelated to the previous repairs” but how can that be when I was able to drive my car every single day between February 11 and April 22 when I had my car serviced, my car was never allowed back on the supercharging network and it only started making noises (almost like a manual car stalling) and had a critical failure after I picked it up.

In addition to everything I just shared when I was at the waiting at the service center they were in the middle of giving another Tesla customer a refund, when I asked the guy about what happened he stated that he continued to have issues with his car after paying to have it repaired directly with Tesla at that location, when he took it someplace else they documented that the repair was not done like they said it was and so they came back with proof they changed course and started acting nice and trying to fix the situation.

In terms of accessibility Tesla says they design their products with everyone in mind. When I’ve had to relearn so much and start accepting help from others my car wasn’t just my freedom, it was my only source of income through gig work since my doctor said I can’t come back to work at my regular job right now, it was my ride to pt/ot plus doctors appointments, & to events that I would participate or volunteer at to give me something to live for other than focusing on my health.

As of last Tuesday I just lost my job of nearly ten years, Tesla has my car and even though it went into critical failure literally on the way home after they did a repair back in April they refuse to make it right. Without any income from gig work I don’t even have enough money for appointments let alone to keep up with my car payments anymore either, and now that DARS (department of rehabilitative services) has everything in place for me to have permanent hand controls installed in my car (which took months of applications, doctors appointments, and paperwork) I don’t even know if I have a car to install hand controls on anymore to begin with.

I spent most of the last two years indoors unable to get out on my own, these last few months outside of the volunteer work I’ve been able to do, I’ve had the chance to learn and participate in wheelchair rugby, wheelchair basketball, and hand cycling, my whole world was opened up to an active accessible community that has helped me get out of my head and back outside doing things for fun again and now I can’t even do that.

Any words of encouragement or advice would be appreciated thank you for your time.