Texas Statute of Limitations for Car Accidents

The statute of limitations for car accidents in Texas is two years from the date of the crash. That deadline is set by Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003, and it applies to virtually every personal injury claim arising from a motor vehicle collision — whether the case involves a rear-end impact on I-35, a highway pileup outside Austin, or a T-bone at a busy Travis County intersection. If the statute of limitations for car accidents in Texas expires before a lawsuit is filed, the court will dismiss the case regardless of how clear the other driver’s fault may be. No exceptions are made for strong evidence or serious injuries once that window has closed.

Many accident victims assume two years is plenty of time and put off consulting a lawyer. That delay is almost always a mistake. The Texas statute of limitations for car accident claims is unforgiving, but the problems that derail cases often start much earlier: surveillance footage gets erased, witnesses move away, accident reconstruction evidence disappears, and insurance companies use delay as a negotiating weapon. The statute of limitations for car accidents in Texas may technically allow two years, but the practical window for building a strong case is far shorter. Lawyers who handle these cases routinely begin evidence preservation within days of a crash, not weeks or months.

Understanding the Texas statute of limitations for car accidents also means understanding what can shorten that window. Claims against government entities — a city bus, a TxDOT maintenance vehicle, a municipality-owned truck — require a formal notice of claim filed within six months of the incident, a step entirely separate from filing suit. Miss that six-month notice deadline and the two-year window becomes irrelevant. The statute of limitations for car accident claims in Texas operates differently depending on who caused the crash, which is one of several reasons early legal counsel matters as much as it does.

How the Two-Year Deadline Works in Practice

Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003 is straightforward in its language: a person must bring suit for personal injury no later than two years after the day the cause of action accrues. In car accident cases, that accrual date is almost always the date of the collision itself. If a driver is injured in an Austin crash on March 1, 2025, the lawsuit must be filed in civil court by March 1, 2027 — not the day before, not a week after. Courts in Texas take this deadline seriously. Defendants routinely move to dismiss cases the moment they can show a plaintiff missed the filing window, and judges grant those motions.

Property damage claims follow the same two-year rule. Whether a victim is seeking compensation for totaled vehicle, damaged cargo, or other personal property destroyed in the crash, that claim must also be filed within two years of the accident date. Some accident victims believe they can file their personal injury lawsuit years later while their property damage claim protects them in court — that is not how Texas law works. Both claims run on the same clock.

Exceptions That Can Extend — or Shorten — the Filing Window

Texas recognizes a handful of narrow exceptions to the two-year rule. None of them are automatic, and courts apply them strictly. The most commonly relevant exceptions in car accident litigation involve injured minors, delayed discovery of injuries, wrongful death, and claims against government entities.

When the injured party is under 18 at the time of the crash, the statute of limitations does not begin running until that person’s 18th birthday. A 15-year-old injured in a Travis County collision would have until age 20 to file suit for their own injuries. However, a parent’s separate claim for the child’s medical expenses still follows the standard two-year deadline, because that financial claim belongs to the parent rather than the child. Families dealing with childhood injury cases need lawyers who understand how to handle both timelines correctly.

The Discovery Rule and Delayed Injuries

Not every car accident injury is immediately apparent. Traumatic brain injuries, herniated discs, internal bleeding, and soft tissue damage can take days or even weeks to produce symptoms severe enough to prompt a diagnosis. Texas law addresses this through the discovery rule: when an injury is inherently undiscoverable at the time of the accident, the statute of limitations does not begin running until the date the victim discovered the injury — or reasonably should have discovered it. Courts place the burden of proving delayed discovery squarely on the injured party, which means medical documentation of when symptoms appeared and when a diagnosis was made is critical evidence in any case relying on this exception.

Wrongful Death Claims

When a car accident victim dies from their injuries, the family has the right to pursue a wrongful death claim. Under Texas law, the two-year statute of limitations for wrongful death cases begins on the date of death — not the date of the accident. If a person is seriously injured in a crash on June 1, 2025 and passes away from those injuries on September 15, 2025, the wrongful death statute of limitations runs until September 15, 2027. Surviving family members who also suffered their own injuries in the crash may have a separate personal injury claim running on a different clock, which underscores the importance of working with attorneys who understand how multiple overlapping deadlines interact.

Government Entity Claims

When a crash involves a vehicle owned or operated by a government agency — a city of Austin fleet vehicle, an Austin ISD bus, a state-operated utility truck, a Travis County sheriff’s deputy — the Texas Tort Claims Act controls. Injured victims must file a formal notice of claim with the appropriate government entity within six months of the incident. That notice is a prerequisite to filing suit, not a substitute for it. Failing to file the notice within the six-month window typically forecloses the entire claim. Because determining whether a vehicle is government-owned is not always immediately obvious at the accident scene, this is another reason experienced attorneys investigate these facts early.

Criminal Acts and Tolling Provisions

If the car accident was caused by criminal conduct — a drunk driver who faces DWI charges, for instance — the civil statute of limitations may be tolled until the conclusion of any related criminal proceedings. This tolling provision exists to protect injured victims from being forced to file civil suits while criminal prosecutions are pending. It does not mean injured parties can wait indefinitely. Once criminal proceedings are resolved, the clock resumes. Attorneys handling accident cases involving concurrent criminal charges track both timelines from the outset.

Why Waiting Is the Wrong Strategy

Accident victims who wait until the statute of limitations approaches before calling a lawyer put themselves at a serious disadvantage. Evidence that was available on the day of the crash may no longer exist. Black box data from commercial vehicles gets overwritten. Dashcam footage is deleted. Skid marks fade. Witnesses relocate. Insurance adjusters who know a deadline is approaching have every incentive to stall negotiations rather than offer a fair settlement. Austin car accident lawyers who are brought in early can issue legal hold notices, subpoena electronic data, retain accident reconstruction experts, and document injuries while medical records are current and detailed.

There is also the issue of comparative negligence. Texas follows a modified comparative fault rule: if an injured victim is found to be more than 50 percent responsible for the accident, they cannot recover anything. Insurance companies spend months building arguments about shared fault, and the more time passes, the harder it becomes to refute those arguments. Lawyers who begin investigating immediately after a crash are in a far better position to establish the other driver’s fault and protect the client’s right to full compensation.

Speaking With an Austin Car Accident Lawyer

The statute of limitations for car accidents in Texas is not a technicality — it is a hard legal barrier that permanently ends a victim’s right to seek compensation if it passes unmet. The two-year window provided by Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code § 16.003 exists for most accident cases, but shorter deadlines apply when government vehicles are involved, and complex exceptions can shift the calculation in cases involving minors, wrongful death, delayed injuries, and criminal conduct. Understanding which rules apply to a specific situation is something accident victims should not try to figure out alone.

The car accident lawyers at Shaw Cowart LLP represent injured Texans throughout Austin and the surrounding area. Call 512-499-8900 to discuss the facts of your case and understand exactly how much time you have to act.