20-Year-Old Student Suffers Severe Burns After Horrifying Tesla Fireball Crash

A 20-year-old college student says his future was shattered after his Tesla erupted into flames following a crash on Long Island — leaving him with horrific burns, multiple surgeries, and several amputated toes.

Jay Kharbanda, a biochemistry student at Stony Brook University, is now suing Tesla, claiming the company’s battery design turned his 2024 Model 3 into a deadly fireball after a collision last summer.

According to a lawsuit filed in federal court in Brooklyn, Kharbanda was driving home on June 30, 2025, when another driver allegedly turned directly in front of him in Dix Hills, New York.

The impact sent the Tesla crashing into a utility pole near the intersection of Old Country Road and Newtown Road in Plainview.

“I blacked out,” Kharbanda told the New York Post. “I just remember getting hit, and that’s it.”

But the real horror allegedly began seconds later.

The lawsuit claims the Tesla’s lithium-ion battery suffered a catastrophic failure after the crash, triggering what’s known as a “thermal runaway” — an explosive chain reaction where overheating battery cells ignite one another and rapidly spread fire.

Kharbanda’s attorney, Scott Epstein, described the burning Tesla as “a literal hell on earth.”

Video from the scene reportedly showed flames exploding from the red Model 3 as the badly injured student lay nearby on the pavement.

Kharbanda says he still has no idea how he escaped alive.

He later learned that the Tesla’s doors allegedly malfunctioned during the fire, forcing bystanders to smash a window and pull him from the burning vehicle.

When he woke up at Nassau University Medical Center, his life had completely changed.

The former high school sprinter suffered devastating third- and fourth-degree burns to his legs, severe burns to his face and left hand, torn knee ligaments, and the loss of several toes on his left foot.

Over the next two months, he underwent four surgeries, painful skin graft procedures, and weeks of hyperbaric oxygen therapy while recovering in the hospital.

“I was coughing up and sneezing black soot for two or three weeks,” he recalled.

Kharbanda, who dreams of becoming a doctor, says the trauma left him terrified to ever drive again.

“I think Tesla should realize that their cars aren’t as safe as they make them out to be,” he said.

His father, Gagan Kharbanda, said watching his son suffer was devastating.

“I lost my whole world when I saw him,” he told the Post.

The family says the medical bills are expected to exceed a staggering $800,000.

Kharbanda is now seeking unspecified damages from Tesla, including punitive damages meant to hold the company accountable for the alleged battery failure.

Tesla has not publicly commented on the lawsuit.

Since the fiery crash, Kharbanda says he refuses to get behind the wheel and now depends on Uber or rides from his parents.

“I don’t think it’s worth it,” he said.