A Tesla robotics technician has launched a $51 million lawsuit against the automaker and a robotics supplier after he was allegedly struck by a malfunctioning robot. 

Peter Hinterdobler, 50, claims he was knocked unconscious by the machine and left with serious injuries in July 2023. He says he's run up $1 million in medical expenses so far, with at least $6 million worth of treatment required in the near-future. 

The technician said in his lawsuit that the accident unfolded as he was helping an engineer disassemble a robot in the company's factory in Fremont, California, and says the machine's arm 'suddenly and without warning released with great force.' 

He says that the power of the mechanical arm was combined with the weight of an 8,000-pound counterbalance, which knocked him out and left him sprawled out on the factory floor. 

He is seeking a total of $51 million in damages for alleged lost wages, emotional distress, pain and suffering, and reduced earning capacity, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. 

The technician is suing both Tesla and robotics company FANUC America, a Japanese firm that built the machine that allegedly injured him. 

The lawsuit comes at a tenuous time for Tesla chief Elon Musk, with his once-dominant grip on the electric vehicle industry slipping in recent earnings reports. 

Hinterdobler alleges in his filing that Tesla failed to make sure the robot's mechanics were secure before he worked on it. 

He claims the electric car manufacturer is at fault for the machine not being 'safely de-energized, secured and stable' as he tried to help disassemble it. 

The 50-year-old also argued that FUNAC was negligent in its design of the equipment. 

He adds that the robot's placement in the Fremont factory was 'not designed for such equipment', and claims Tesla went on to introduce new safety protocols to the machine after his accident. 

Tesla and FUNAC did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit. 

The case was filed last week in California, just weeks after Tesla shared a concerning vehicle sales data report that showed its grip on the electric car industry is slipping. 

According to the report, only 38 percent of new EV owners drove a Tesla - the first time in almost eight years that the company sold less than 40 percent of America's new EVs. 

Tesla has been accused of selling unaffordable vehicles, and shoppers have flocked to newer, cheaper models from rivals including Hyundai, Chevy and Kia. 

EV drivers currently tend to lean more liberal. And many have vowed to boycott Tesla over Elon Musk's former role as a White House advisor to Donald Trump which saw him attempt to slash federal government spending.  

Musk's flagship car company's last big release, the angular Cybertruck, was expected to be a blockbuster as the billionaire said he had 'over one million reservations' a month before the car's launch. 

But, in two years since the $72,000 truck's release, the company has only sold around 52,000 of them. 

On September 1, the company released 'Master Plan 4,' a roadmap of its future strategy. It did not mention a new vehicle model or any updates to its current cars. 

Instead, the plan puts AI and robotics at the center of Tesla's future, with promises of humanoid robots that can clean a house and autonomous vehicles that do not have steering wheels or rearview mirrors.

'We must make one thing clear: this challenge will be extremely difficult to overcome,' the company wrote.

That bet is also tied to Musk's own wage. 

Tesla's board has proposed a $1 trillion compensation package for him, pegged on the promise that those future technologies will skyrocket the company's valuation to $8.5 trillion over the next decade.