Tesla is headed to trial, where a jury will soon decide whether it's to blame for a 2-year-old crashing a model X into his pregnant mom

• Tesla is on trial over a negligence lawsuit brought by a mom whose toddler hit her with her Model X.

• The California mom alleges in the lawsuit that the 2018 Model X was "defective" in its design.

• Tesla has argued the mother is to blame and that the Model X's design likely saved her life.

Is Tesla to blame for a toddler crashing his family's Model X SUV into his pregnant mother, injuring her?

That's what a California jury will soon weigh in a civil trial that could raise questions about the vehicle's safety features and force Elon Musk's electric car company to pay out hefty monetary damages.

Opening statements in the trial, taking place in a Santa Clara County courtroom, are expected to begin this week.

California mom alleges that the Tesla Model X was 'defective'

In 2019, California mother Mallory Harcourt filed a lawsuit against Tesla over the incident, accusing it of negligence, consumer fraud, and product liability. Harcourt alleges in the suit that her brand-new 2018 Model X SUV was "defective" in its design because her 2-year-old son managed to start the vehicle and hit her with it outside of the family's Santa Barbara home on December 27, 2018.

The mother, who was eight months pregnant with her second child at the time, was left pinned to a wall in her garage when the vehicle accelerated, according to the lawsuit. Harcourt suffered broken bones and gave birth to her daughter prematurely through a broken pelvis about a week later, court documents say.

"Mallory's injuries healed over time, but her pain is permanent," Harcourt's attorneys wrote in an April 8 legal brief.

"No one could reasonably expect a two-year-old who climbs into the floorboard of a vehicle that is in Park with its parking brake on to be able to cause the vehicle to start, shift out of Park and into Drive and move," the lawyers added. "Such a vehicle is defective."

Jurors at the trial will hear from Harcourt's attorneys how the mother and her husband purchased a Model X as their family vehicle after seeing advertisements about it being the "safest, quickest, most capable SUV ever," according to the brief.

The incident occurred just four days after the parents bought the Model X, and shortly after Harcourt pulled into their driveway with their son in tow.

"The vehicle automatically shifted into Park and set the parking brake," the brief says.

Harcourt removed her son, identified as B.H., from his car seat and left the driver's door open, it says.

"Mallory realized she had forgotten her house keys at the office and was not able to enter the home," the brief says. "B.H. had a dirty diaper so she decided to change him in the garage."

At some point, the boy "escaped" from his mother and climbed into the vehicle's footwell through the open door, according to the brief.

"He then contacted the brake pedal, which started the car and automatically closed the driver's door. Seconds later, B.H. reached up and touched the gear shift lever on the stalk of the steering wheel, which shifted the car out of Park and into Drive," the brief says.

"B.H. then contacted the accelerator pedal, which caused the car to begin moving forward. From the time B.H. entered the Tesla until it began moving was mere seconds," it continues.

Harcourt saw the Tesla as it was entering the garage, and had "virtually no time to react," the court filing says.

"She moved towards the front of the Tesla hoping the vehicle would recognize her and stop since the Tesla was equipped with technology that she understood would recognize if the vehicle was going to hit something and stop," the brief says.

The Model X then accelerated to over 8 miles-per-hour and struck Harcourt, it says.