Washington driver says Tesla autopilot 'malfunctioned' before making an entrance through garage door

A crash in Washington state is grabbing the wrong type of headlines for Tesla after a car wound up embedded in a home's garage, as Futurism detailed.

According to the driver, the incident was caused by the vehicle's automated driving system and ended up leaving the door ripped apart around the front of the car. Online commenters, though, have their doubts.

What happened?

KING5 News first reported that a Tesla driver in Redmond, Washington, alleged to police that the car's self-driving feature "malfunctioned" on Monday before it entered another resident's garage. The police posted the story on their X page (@RedmondWaPD).

Vehicle Collides with Residential Garage

On Monday, June 8, at approximately 11:00 a.m., Redmond police responded to a report of a vehicle that had collided with a residential garage in the 6300 block of 151st Ave. NE.

The driver reported that the vehicle's autopilot system… pic.twitter.com/fHUu0hHtNE

— RedmondWaPD (@RedmondWaPD) June 8, 2026

The authorities said officers were dispatched at about 11 a.m. They added that there were no reported injuries, nor any indications that impairment contributed to the crash.

Photos from the aftermath show a red Tesla stuck in the garage entrance, with the door crumpled and peeled back around the car. 

Police said the system allegedly being used was the vehicle's Autopilot system. Futurism noted Tesla also sells a more advanced option called Full Self-Driving, which somewhat misleadingly does require constant supervision.

Why does it matter?

Even without injuries, crashes like this can have serious consequences for customers, including costly repairs to both homes and vehicles, higher insurance premiums, loss of access to transportation, and uncertainty about who is responsible when a driver-assistance feature is engaged.

If the tech was at fault, it also draws more scrutiny towards Tesla's claims about its systems. Federal regulators have scrutinized the company's driver-assistance systems, and the company currently faces billions in potential damages in litigation over its perceived shortcomings.

Advanced driver-assistance tools can expose customers to safety and financial risks when they are misunderstood or overtrusted. 

Failures on this front greatly compromise Tesla's future, which heavily promotes these features. Much of the company's future is also tied up in emerging markets like Robotaxis that rely on autonomous driving.

What are people saying?

While the driver's account is that the Tesla system "malfunctioned" moments before the collision, online commenters were highly skeptical.

"If I had a dollar for every time someone falsely blamed Autopilot and FSD, I'd be pretty damn rich," a skeptical commenter on X wrote.

It's worth noting that investigators have not yet determined what happened. Police will investigate whether the software played a role in the crash or whether driver error was involved, despite the driver's account.

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