San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is returning to the sideline for his team’s first preseason game after surviving a head-on car crash in his Newsnationnow in Palo Alto on July 14. Shanahan sustained a concussion, broken ribs, a broken nose, a broken left hand, facial lacerations, and received more than 40 stitches to a cut above his eye. He was the only person hospitalized following the accident, and police did not issue him a ticket for cellphone use.
Kyle Shanahan Returns Following Serious Tesla Crash
According to Fox News, Shanahan stated that the vehicle was operating in autopilot mode at approximately 20 miles per hour when he looked away from the road to retrieve his cellphone from the back seat. Who knows what happened when I turned around,
Shanahan said during a press conference, whether it malfunctioned or whether I knocked it off. That’s something that I don’t know yet.
Having owned Teslas for nine years and previously held complete trust in the technology, Shanahan acknowledged that the incident changed his outlook, stating that drivers can never have zero worries when using the feature.
Lingering Recovery and Renewed View on Concussions
Although the facial stitches have been removed, Shanahan continues to wear a cast and experiences lingering effects, specifically headaches and fatigue. He noted that loud noises, particularly practice loudspeaker soundtracks like AC/DC, are no longer as challenging as they were initially. The physical trauma has also altered his perspective on head injuries within the sport. While NFL head coaches are not intimately involved in the day-to-day navigation of the league’s concussion protocol, Shanahan admitted that experiencing a concussion firsthand shifted his view on how such injuries are categorized and perceived.
Shanahan enters his 10th season leading the 49ers with a 91-72 regular-season and playoff record, ranking third in franchise history for wins behind George Seifert and Bill Walsh. Under his leadership, San Francisco has reached two Super Bowls following the 2019 and 2023 seasons and made two NFC championship game appearances after the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
Broader Scrutiny of Tesla Self-Driving Technology
Shanahan’s accident adds to a growing wave of federal investigations and lawsuits directed at Tesla’s advanced driving systems. In March, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) escalated an investigation originally opened in October 2024 to determine whether the self-driving feature supplies sufficient advanced warning in low-visibility conditions. The probe encompasses more than 3 million vehicles equipped with full self-driving technology across the 2016 through 2026 Model S, Model X, Model 3, Model Y, and Cybertruck lineups.
Additional legal challenges involving Autopilot include a federal judge’s decision earlier this year refusing to overturn a nearly $243 million verdict tied to a 2019 fatal crash in Key Largo, Florida, where a driver dropped a mobile phone and leaned to pick it up while using the system. In June, relatives of Martha Avila filed a $1 million lawsuit against Tesla alleging a design defect after the 76-year-old was killed when a Tesla reportedly on Autopilot went airborne and crashed into her home. Tesla CEO Elon Musk and vice president of artificial intelligence software Ashok Elluswamy have asserted on X that the driver in the Avila case manually overrode the vehicle’s self-driving feature, while both the NHTSA and the National Transportation Safety Board continue their investigations.
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