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Retracted · 2026-07-24

Duplicate ingestion of the same event as injury-2023-07-22-tesla, the canonical record for "Tesla FANUC robot-arm injury Fremont (2023-07-22)". This duplicate is retracted to suppress it from aggregates; its own URL stays index,follow per the retraction fairness policy.

Incident · Injury · Retracted

Tesla and FANUC sued for $51M after a factory robot arm struck a technician unconscious at Fremont (2023)

Original claim shown above is no longer asserted. See the retraction notice for context.

On July 22 2023 at Tesla's Fremont, California plant, robotics technician Peter Hinterdobler was helping disassemble a FANUC industrial robot when the arm, with the force of an ~8,000-lb counterbalance, suddenly struck him, throwing him to the floor and knocking him unconscious. He filed a $51M suit against Tesla and FANUC. A maintenance-phase struck-by injury, the dominant industrial-robot hazard pattern.

Occurred 2023-07-22 · Tesla Robotaxi (Model Y ADS) at Orlando, Florida, USA · Tesla · Orlando, Florida, USA · Robotaxis

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Incident records on DEPLOY are compiled from public sources (regulatory filings, news reports, and operator disclosures) and reflect what has been reported and tracked to date. They are not legal findings, determinations of fault, or safety ratings, and may be updated as new information is verified. See the sources below for the underlying references.
Track Tesla and FANUC sued for $51M after a factory robot arm struck a technician unconscious at Fremont (2023)

Machine-readable surfaces

Sources (1)

  1. Manufacturing Dive · https://www.manufacturingdive.com/news/former-factory-worker-sues-tesla-fanuc-robotic-arm-unconscious-51-million/761123/

Status history

  • Retracted · 2026-07-24

    Duplicate ingestion of the same event as injury-2023-07-22-tesla, the canonical record for "Tesla FANUC robot-arm injury Fremont (2023-07-22)". This duplicate is retracted to suppress it from aggregates; its own URL stays index,follow per the retraction fairness policy.

Common questions

What happened in Tesla and FANUC sued for $51M after a factory robot arm struck a technician unconscious at Fremont (2023)?
On July 22 2023 at Tesla's Fremont, California plant, robotics technician Peter Hinterdobler was helping disassemble a FANUC industrial robot when the arm, with the force of an ~8,000-lb counterbalance, suddenly struck him, throwing him to the floor and knocking him unconscious. He filed a $51M suit against Tesla and FANUC. A maintenance-phase struck-by injury, the dominant industrial-robot hazard pattern. This incident was later retracted; see the retraction banner at the top of the page for the correction.
When did this incident occur?
The incident is recorded as occurring on July 22, 2023 on the DEPLOY registry. The date reflects the underlying real-world event, not the registry record's creation date.
What robot was involved in Tesla and FANUC sued for $51M after a factory robot arm struck a technician unconscious at Fremont (2023)?
Tesla Robotaxi (Model Y ADS) by Tesla is the recorded robot involved in this incident at Orlando, Florida, USA.
Has anyone responded to Tesla and FANUC sued for $51M after a factory robot arm struck a technician unconscious at Fremont (2023)?
No responses to this incident are recorded on the DEPLOY registry. Operators, manufacturers, or affected parties can submit responses to the editorial team; absence is not a guarantee no response was issued.
What is the current status of Tesla and FANUC sued for $51M after a factory robot arm struck a technician unconscious at Fremont (2023)?
This incident is retracted on the DEPLOY registry. The page remains so the correction reaches readers, but the incident is suppressed from aggregate counts (company / model / location) so it no longer counts against anyone.
Methodology: Verified · 1 source (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-07-14

Verification posture

Verified

Low confidence

Review state

Stable

Last reviewed 2026-07-14

Sources by quality tier

1
unclassified
Unclassified source

The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.

Methodology surface for Tesla and FANUC sued for $51M after a factory robot arm struck a technician unconscious at Fremont (2023).

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Canonical ID 9c3adec0-3f44-4482-8ffc-afd2eb3ce5df