After flying halfway around the world to spend time with their son in Toronto, Digvijay Ausarkar’s parents returned to India with high hopes for his promising future as an engineer in Canada.
asserted
parents → fly → Canada
Four weeks later, they got a call from police, telling them it had all been snatched away.
“They said it was an accident and he is no more,” Rajendra Ausarkar, Digvijay’s father, told the Star from his home in Nashik, India.
The 32-year-old died trapped inside a burning Tesla SUV on Lake Shore Boulevard East nearly two years ago.
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old → get → East
Bystanders at the scene could not open the doors to rescue the occupants because, like all Teslas, this Model Y had electronic door handles that can fail without power.
uncertain
that → open → power
Firefighters removed Digvijay’s body, alongside three others, nearly seven hours after the crash, once the massive battery fire had been extinguished and the blackened doors were sawed off.
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doors → remove → crash
Within seconds, people were rushing to help the occupants of this burning Tesla Model Y — but the doors would not open.
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doors → rush → Y
Within seconds, people were rushing to help the occupants of this burning Tesla Model Y — but the doors would not open.
asserted
doors → rush → Y
Distraught, Rajendra and his daughter, Swamini, caught the first plane back to Toronto.
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Rajendra → catch → Toronto
When they arrived, they had trouble getting any information from authorities.
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they → arrive → authorities
After four days of pounding on doors and calling around, they were asked to identify the remains.
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they → pound → remains
“They asked us to look, and we could not dare to,” Rajendra said in an interview that alternated between Hindi and English.
“When you have his earlier smiling face (in your memory), you will forget it if you see him in this position.
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you → ask → position
The October 2024 Tesla fire shocked Torontonians.
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fire → shock → Torontonians
Four people died in the flames, while a fifth walked away after being hauled out of the wreck by an Uber driver who smashed the window with a metal bar.
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who → die → bar
Two of those who died survived the initial impact, the police investigation found, but perished in the fire as the survivor cried out their names in anguish.
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survivor → die → anguish
In their report, Toronto police investigators found the “design, location and complication” of the door latches contributed to the deaths of the rear-seat passengers.
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design → find → passengers
Now, the Ausarkar family has filed a $21-million lawsuit, alleging Tesla’s electronic door handles created a “death trap.”
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handles → file → trap
Door handles can fail, trapping occupants inside
When the grey Model Y struck a pillar underneath the Gardiner Expressway, its battery casing ruptured, starting a chain reaction.
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casing → fail → reaction
Thermal runaway in the battery pack caused an intense fire that burned hotter, spread more quickly and was more difficult to put out than regular car fires.
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that → cause → fires
EV fires have become a global concern as the technology has become popular, forcing firefighters to adopt new rescue techniques.
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technology → become → techniques
Such runaway fires can affect any EV battery, but Tesla — until recently the world’s most popular EV maker — has been singled out for criticism over mounting evidence that its electronic doors can fail, trapping people inside a burning car.
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doors → affect → car
This fall, citing entrapment concerns, China announced a recall of nearly four million EVs with electronic door handles — including almost three million Teslas.
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China → cite → Teslas
A Bloomberg investigation last year found 15 deaths in a dozen incidents in the United States over the past decade in which occupants or rescuers were unable to open the doors of a Tesla that had caught fire.
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that → find → fire
The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Transport Canada both have open investigations but have taken no action against Tesla.
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Administration → have → Tesla
The lawsuit filed by the Ausarkar family is the first in Canada that could, if successful, see the carmaker forced to pay damages for its design choices.
uncertain
carmaker → file → choices
“The defects in the Tesla vehicle, particularly the faulty battery that caught fire and the defectively designed electronic door handles that became inoperable without power, were the direct and proximate cause of the deaths of four occupants,” the lawsuit claims.
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lawsuit → catch → occupants
Tesla, it alleges, displayed “reckless disregard for occupant safety in prioritizing design esthetics and technology over emergency egress capability and occupant survival.”
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it → allege → capability
An executive summary of the Toronto police investigation into the crash, obtained through a freedom-of-information request, found Digvijay, who was in the front passenger seat, and the driver, Jayraj Sisodiya, were killed in the initial impact.
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who → obtain → impact
Swamini Ausarkar, Digvijay’s sister, said she believes the car is responsible for all the deaths, because the doors would not open and the airbags did not deploy.
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airbags → say → deaths
(A Transport Canada investigation was unable to determine if the airbags deployed.)
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airbags → determine → ?
“It seems that it was a very defective vehicle,” she said.
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she → seem → ?
In addition to Tesla, the lawsuit seeks damages from Sisodiya’s estate and several insurance companies.
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lawsuit → seek → estate
Swamini said her family holds no grudge against Sisodiya, but that they received legal advice to sue the driver in order to receive compensation from the insurers.
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they → say → insurers
The claims have not been tested in court.
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claims → test → court
None of the defendants, including Tesla, has filed a defence.
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None → include → defence
The Ausarkars’ lawyer, Mohammad Asadullah, declined to comment on the case.
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lawyer → decline → case
Tesla did not respond to the Star’s request for comment.
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Tesla → respond → comment
According to crash tests, Teslas are some of the safest cars on the road, having earned a five-star safety rating from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and top marks in crash tests by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
But the electronic door handles that lay flush with the outside of the car are not part of standard North American safety tests.
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that → accord → tests
China, the biggest EV market in the world, has banned electronic door handles on all new cars.
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China → ban → cars
Last year, Tesla’s chief engineer told Bloomberg that the company is working on a redesign of its door handles.
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company → tell → handles
While most Tesla models come with manual emergency door releases, they are unmarked and located under a rubber mat in the door pockets or, in some cases, behind the speaker covers.
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they → come → covers
While the lawsuit claims Sisodiya drove negligently, it focuses on three aspects of Teslas that allegedly made for a deadly combination: a battery that can catch fire, electronic doors that will not open without power and manual door releases that are difficult to operate in an emergency.
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that → claim → emergency
…and 63 more, not listed.
The Aporia
