Tesla Factory Robot Lawsuit: $51M Claim, FANUC, Safety Record

A former Tesla robotics technician has filed a $51 million Tesla factory robot lawsuit against Tesla and robot manufacturer FANUC America, alleging that a malfunctioning industrial robot arm at the Fremont, California, plant struck him during a disassembly job in July 2023, knocked him unconscious, and left him with a traumatic brain injury and spinal damage. The case, Hinterdobler v. Fanuc America et al., is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California before Judge Edward M. Chen.¹

What Happened at the Fremont Plant

Peter Hinterdobler, then 50, was helping a Tesla engineer take apart a FANUC robot that had been pulled off a Model 3 assembly line on July 22, 2023. The engineer was trying to remove a motor at the base of the robot to reach an internal component known as a dress pack. During the work, the robot’s arm released without warning. According to the complaint, it hit Hinterdobler with the combined force of its own mechanical power and a counterbalance weight of roughly 8,000 pounds.¹

The impact threw him to the floor and knocked him unconscious. The complaint says the robot had been moved into an area of the factory not designated for that type of equipment, and that Hinterdobler and the engineer were interacting with it in what the filing calls a “reasonably foreseeable manner.”² Hinterdobler says he suffered a traumatic brain injury, spinal damage, and ongoing psychological trauma, with medical bills that have already passed $1 million and projected future medical costs of about $6 million.³

What Hinterdobler Says Tesla Did Wrong

The complaint alleges that Tesla failed to make sure the robot was safely de-energized, secured, and stable before Hinterdobler was asked to assist with the disassembly. It also alleges the company was negligent in training and supervising workers and failed to comply with industry safety standards designed to prevent this kind of incident.⁴

One allegation focuses on what happened after Hinterdobler was hurt. According to the complaint, Tesla put new rigging and safety protocols in place for the FANUC robot only after the incident, which the filing offers as evidence that adequate procedures had not been established beforehand.¹ Hinterdobler also says Tesla has refused his repeated requests to turn over video footage of the accident, an allegation his attorneys have framed as an effort to withhold evidence.³

The Claims Against FANUC

FANUC America, which manufactured the robot, is the second defendant. The complaint alleges that FANUC negligently designed the equipment, failed to properly instruct users on safe operation, and that the robot “failed in a dangerous and unexpected manner.”³ FANUC has not commented publicly on the lawsuit.⁴

FANUC’s own safety manual places responsibility for developing site-specific lockout procedures and conducting risk assessments on the employer operating the equipment, a point that may cut into how liability is divided between the two defendants.⁵

How the $51 Million Is Broken Down

Hinterdobler is seeking $51 million in total damages:

Pain, suffering, and inconvenience: $20 million
Emotional distress: $10 million
Loss of future earning capacity: $8 million
Past and future loss of household services: $5 million
Past lost earnings: $1 million
Medical expenses: $7 million, made up of about $1 million already incurred and $6 million projected

His attorney has said the damages figures are subject to change as the case progresses.³

Where the Case Stands

The lawsuit was filed on July 22, 2025, in the Superior Court of California in Alameda County, exactly two years after the incident, and was removed to federal court on September 19, 2025.¹ The case number is 3:25-cv-08001-EMC.

Tesla’s attorneys have filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that California’s Workers’ Compensation Act bars the claims through its “exclusive remedy” provision, which generally stops employees from suing their employers for on-the-job injuries outside the workers’ compensation system.¹ If the court agrees, the claims against Tesla could be significantly narrowed or dismissed. As of mid-2026, no ruling on that motion had been publicly reported.

FANUC retained attorney Scott Randall Dallas, who filed a notice of appearance on May 15, 2026, but the company has not yet filed a formal answer.⁶ In March 2026, Judge Chen denied a request from Hinterdobler’s attorneys to redact portions of a hearing transcript containing medical information and case valuation details, finding that because the information had already been disclosed at a public hearing, the plaintiff had not shown enough cause to seal it.⁷ No trial date has been set. The next scheduled event is a case management conference on January 12, 2027. Neither Tesla nor FANUC has made a public statement about the case.

How This Fits Tesla’s Safety Record

The Hinterdobler case is not the first time Tesla’s Fremont factory has drawn safety scrutiny. Since 2023, Tesla has accumulated 21 OSHA violations at Fremont, out of 27 across its U.S. facilities. Those violations include a worker pinned by a vehicle on a conveyor belt after the company failed to cut power during quality inspections, heat-related safety failures, unreported workplace injuries, and multiple finger amputations. Tesla has contested many of the citations.⁸ A 2022 Forbes investigation found that Tesla had more safety infractions and fines than all other U.S. automakers combined over a three-year period.⁹

Fremont is also not the only Tesla site where a robot has injured a worker. In November 2021, an assembly robot at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Austin, Texas, malfunctioned and pinned a software engineer, digging its metal claws into his back and arm. Witnesses said he was freed only after a colleague hit the emergency stop button, and that he fell into a scrap metal chute and left a trail of blood. That incident did not result in a publicly reported lawsuit.³

Robot-related injuries in manufacturing are uncommon but not rare. A 2024 report analyzing OSHA data identified 77 robot-related incidents between 2015 and 2022, resulting in 93 injuries that ranged from finger amputations to fractures of the head, torso, legs, and feet.¹⁰

1
Manufacturing Dive. Former Factory Worker Sues Tesla, Fanuc After Robotic Arm Knocked Him Unconscious
2
Autoblog. Tesla Sued for $51 Million After Worker Knocked Unconscious by Factory Robot
3
The Independent. Tesla Elon Musk Fremont Robot Lawsuit
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San Francisco Chronicle. Tesla Technician Robot Lawsuit
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FANUC. Safety Manual for FANUC Educational Cell
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PACER Monitor. Hinterdobler v. Fanuc America Et Al
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Justia. Hinterdobler v. Fanuc America Et Al, Filing 55
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AFL-CIO. Memo on Elon Musk OSHA Cases
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San Antonio Express-News. Tesla Texas Gigafactory OSHA Fines Worker Safety
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Yahoo Finance. Former Factory Worker Sues Tesla, Fanuc After Robotic Arm Knocked Him Unconscious