NJ man sues Tesla after crash kills his entire family on Parkway

✅ The Tesla carrying members of the Dryerman family veered off the Parkway

✅ The lawsuit contends Tesla's 'dangerous design' caused the fatal crash

A New Jersey man has filed a federal lawsuit against Tesla over crash on the Garden State Parkway that claimed the life of his parents and younger sister.

His father, David Dryerman, 54, was behind the wheel of a 2024Tesla S that went off the northbound Garden State Parkway in Woodbridge near the Metropark exit on Sept. 14, according to State Police.

The vehicle struck a sign, a guardrail and a concrete bridge support.

Dryerman, his 17-year-old daughter Brooke and wife Michelle, 54, were killed. They had been returning from the Sea. Hear. Now. concert in Asbury Park.

College student murns entire family

Max Dryerman, 19, was not with his family during the crash. He had just begun classes at Drexel University in Philadelphia. He also had just began a co-op position with Naval Sea Systems Command to work with Navy engineers, according to his Linkedin page at the time.

ALSO READ: Dozens fall ill and 16 hospitalized during Paterson graduations

Lawsuit says family not told Tesla is dangerous

The Tesla S has both an autopilot and full self-driving feature that Dreyman blames for causing the crash.

According to the federal lawsuit obtained by Reuters, the vehicle's  "defective and unreasonably dangerous design" caused it to go off the road and not apply the emergency brake.

The suit also contends that Tesla did not let David Dryerman that Tesla was unsafe.

Tesla recalled 2 million of its vehicles in December 2023 after a two-year investigation by the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that Tesla’s system to monitor drivers using its self-driving Autopilot feature was defective and required a fix.

(Includes material Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed)