Inset: Jeffrey Bauer and Michelle Bauer (GoFundMe). Background: The crash scene in Verona, Wis., after Jeffrey Bauer and Michelle Bauer struck a tree with their Tesla Model S and died (WISN/YouTube).
A Wisconsin couple riding in a Tesla Model S died last year after it crashed into a tree and burst into flames. Their family is now suing the electric car company, alleging the vehicle lost "low-voltage electrical power," which rendered the rear door buttons "useless" and trapped them both inside.
"Jeffrey Bauer and Michelle Bauer did not die from the crash," lawyers for the couple's family state in their legal complaint, which was filed last week in Dane County Circuit Court. "They died because defendant Tesla's unreasonably dangerous design choices created the conditions for a fire to ignite and spread rapidly and left them with no practical means of escape."
The Bauers were among a group of five people killed in the car crash in November 2024 when the 2016 Tesla Model S they were passengers in hit a tree off Range Trail in Verona.
After the crash, a nearby homeowner called 911 and described how she was awoken by sounds of the collision. "The car is on fire now," the homeowner said, according to the Bauer family's complaint. "She could hear people screaming from within the vehicle. The caller described seeing 'big flames' and hearing numerous 'big bangs.' Five minutes into the call, she could still hear screaming."
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An off-duty police officer also witnessed the aftermath and called 911 to report the crash, according to the complaint. "She too reported that she could see the vehicle on fire and heard yelling from within the subject vehicle," the complaint alleges. "Ultimately, none of the vehicle's five occupants were able to escape from the Model S before it was consumed by flames."
The Bauer family's legal team claims Tesla's "design choices" created a highly foreseeable risk: that occupants who survived a crash would "remain trapped inside a burning vehicle," according to the complaint. They allege that Tesla included mechanical backups accessible from inside the vehicle, but they were "hidden, unlabeled, and impractical in an emergency," the complaint says.
"Rear passengers were left with only a concealed mechanical release that was obscured, non-intuitive, and highly unlikely to be located or operated in the smoke and chaos of a post-crash fire," the document alleges.
Lead attorney Andrew McDevitt told NBC and CW affiliate WMTV that Jeffrey Bauer and Michelle Bauer's deaths were "unnecessary" and could have been prevented had Tesla not "introduced a hazard and a problem that did not previously exist in vehicles."
He added, "When you see something novel or different, unfortunately, you have to make sure that at this point in time, they've thought about the safety ramifications and just be mindful that there can be these hidden dangers lurking out there."
The couple's family sent WMTV a statement this week saying, "Jeffrey and Michelle were devoted parents and cherished members of our community. This crash stole them from us in the most horrific way imaginable, inflicting an irreparable loss on our family. We filed this lawsuit to seek justice for their deaths and force Tesla to finally fix what they've known was deadly for years."
Tesla has not responded to WMTV or Law&Crime's requests for comment.