Old Emails Elon Musk Wrote To The Father Of A Tesla Car Crash Victim Reveal His Sensitive Side

Losing a child is absolutely the most devastating thing that can happen to a parent. But SpaceX founder understands this loss more than anyone else because he personally was affected by it.

A series of emails have emerged from the year 2018 when Elon Musk emailed the father of a teen who died in a horrific Tesla crash.

AFP Relaxnews

The emails between the two that spanned over seven weeks shows the emotional side of the Tesla chief executive officer over the horrible accident.

The emails were about Barrett Riley who was driving his father's Tesla Model S on May 8, 2018. However, he lost control at 116 miles per hour and crashed into a concrete wall of a house in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. After the said accident, the car was engulfed in flames. Both Barret and his friend sitting in the passenger seat were killed during the car crash.

According to the mail thread provided by Bloomberg, Elon Musk emailed Barrett's father James Riley 24 hours after the accident. He offered his condolences to the grieving father and asked him if he would like to talk. He wrote, ¡°There's nothing worse than losing a child."

AFP

Even though James Riley initially replied that he'd like speak, he later wrote again to say that he and his wife weren't quite ready to talk.

Elon Musk then wrote, ¡°I understand. My firstborn son died in my arms. I felt his last heartbeat." He referred to his son Nevada Alexander Musk who died when he was 10 weeks old.

Musk even fulfilled Riley's request that Tesla should have a computerised version where the parents can control the speed at which the car may function.

Back in June 2018, Tesla sent out a software update to its speed limit feature that would let drivers set the maximum speed between 50 mph and 90 mph through the car's smartphone app or user interface through a four-digit PIN. The language was also updated in the manual that said that the feature has been added in the memory of Barett Riley.

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¡°I've never asked for acknowledgement for anything in my life, but it would be nice to acknowledge that Barrett and Edgar's loss led to the enhanced safety of others,¡± Riley wrote to Musk on May 31, 2018.

Musk had responded to Riley two days prior and said, "Tesla is doing everything we can to improve safety. My friends, family and I all drive Teslas, and even if they didn't I would still do everything I could.¡±

Two years after the mail exchange, Riley filed a product liability suit against Tesla in a Florida federal court. His Tesla vehicle's lithium-ion batteries ¡°burst into an uncontrollable and fatal fire¡± after the crash, according to the complaint. ¡°Barrett Riley was killed by the battery fire, not by the accident,¡± he said.

Reuters

The complaint also mentioned that Riley asked Tesla two months before the accident to install a speed limiter device in its car for his son's safety, but it was removed without permission when the car was taken to Tesla to be serviced.

This email exchange between the two is contained in a court filing submitted this month in a wrongful death lawsuit involving a different Tesla crash.

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