Elon Musk and his electric vehicle manufacturer, Tesla, are big proponents of collision prevention technology. But it appears his company’s products are actually pretty safe even if they are involved in an accident.
TeslaRati forum user QwiksilverA4 wrote a post Friday in which he credits Tesla, as well as Musk himself, with saving his life the night before his recent wedding.
“I wanted to write this to you in hopes that this raises visibility to the management chain at Tesla,” QwiksilverA4 wrote. “I can’t thank Elon Musk, Tesla, and the team enough for what they do and want them to know that their car saved my life.”
The man, identified by Mashable as Mr. Tran, reportedly was on his way home after his rehearsal dinner in a rented Tesla Model X, and making a left turn, when he was broadsided by a stolen Honda Civic attempting to outrun police. The Civic hit the Tesla’s driver’s side door at more than 65 mph, shoving the Model X roughly 20 feet.
While the Civic clearly looked like it had hit a medium sized tree after the crash, the Model X certainly didn’t look like it was just T-boned at highway speeds — apart from the deployed airbags. The only notable damage to the Tesla was a broken axle and bent wheel.
Mr. Tran sustained a torn ligament in his right thumb and bruising on his thigh. Other than some ace bandage around his hand, however, there reportedly was no evidence of the accident when he walked down the aisle the next day.
The safety of Tesla’s vehicles certainly isn’t news. When the Model S was first released, it achieved the highest crash test rating ever by the NHTSA, due largely to its stamped aluminum body panels — which the Model X also uses.
That said, there’s a big difference between seeing a video of a car performing well in a controlled crash, and hearing an account of somebody who actually was in one that got hit by a reckless driver. It’s nice to know the Silicon Valley automaker’s vehicles hold up just as well in the real world as they do in a lab.
All photos via TeslaRati/QwiksilverA4
