A fired Tesla manager, Javier Medrano, is suing the company for unlawful retaliation, alleging that chronic understaffing of Full Self-Driving safety operators in Houston turned the vehicles into "rolling hazards on public streets." Medrano claims Tesla ignored his repeated warnings that his team was dangerously overstretched, and that this ultimately contributed to a crash he processed while asleep, giving an operator "unsafe guidance" that left her stranded at the scene for an hour, where she was approached by an allegedly impaired stranger.

Medrano managed safety operators riding in FSD test vehicles from October 2024 to May 2025, but says his caseload grew to 38 operators, far above the 1-to-15 ratio he claims Tesla's Autopilot Director had set as a baseline; when he raised concerns about not sleeping or eating properly, the director allegedly dismissed him. He says he was fired after formally escalating the issues, and is now seeking reinstatement, back pay, restitution for lost equity and damages for emotional distress. The case adds to wider scrutiny of Tesla's self-driving push, including a Reuters report on exaggerated safety claims and an ongoing federal safety investigation.