WASHINGTON, Oct 3, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The family of a US college student sued Tesla after she died in a Cybertruck crash last year while allegedly trapped in the vehicle due to its door design, US media reports said.

The American EV maker has seen tepid demand for the Cybertruck, a futuristic stainless steel vehicle championed by CEO Elon Musk despite a series of recalls since its 2023 release.

Krysta Tsukahara, 19, suffered minor injuries in a crash in California in November, but later died of burns and smoke inhalation when she was unable to escape the Cybertruck, her parents said in a lawsuit filed on Thursday, the New York Times reported.

The college student would "be alive today" had it not been so difficult to get out of the burning vehicle, her father told the newspaper.

The Cybertruck "lacked a functional, accessible, and conspicuous manual door release mechanism, fail-safe, or other redundant system for emergency egress," according to the wrongful death lawsuit.

Tsukahara, who was a passenger, "suffered unimaginable pain and emotional distress" before her death, the document read.

The truck had a battery-operated door that could be disrupted in the event of a crash. The manual release for the rear doors was located under a rubber mat in the door storage pocket. Tesla did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment.

Tsukahara's parents also sued the family of the driver earlier this year. The 19-year-old driver had also died in the crash.

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched an investigation last month after receiving complaints over the Tesla Model Y, including instances where a parent was unable to retrieve a child put in the back seats.

In a separate case in August, Tesla was ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to plaintiffs who blamed a deadly 2019 crash on the company's "Autopilot" driver assistance technology.