Getting hit in a head-on crash is nasty enough to deal with. But now imagine your own car then starting to accelerate out of nowhere, ramming the other driver and nearly putting you in a ditch. It sounds wild, but that’s exactly what one man says happened to his Tesla Model 3 when it was hit by a Jeep earlier this month.
Radu Stefan was driving his Tesla Model 3 towards the intersection of Lee Canyon Road and Deer Creek Road in Nevada on July 7. As he approached, a white 2024 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon rounded the corner at high speed, visibly out of control. The Jeep understeered, winding up in Radu’s lane and slamming hard into the front of his vehicle.
You might have expected both parties to stop and assess the damage. Instead, Radu told media that his vehicle malfunctioned immediately after the impact, driving itself forward in an erratic, uncontrolled fashion. In the video we see the Tesla lurches forward, ramming the Jeep before it narrowly avoids veering off the road. “It was like a horror movie,” Stefan told KSNV News 3. As his vehicle lurched away from the crash, it nearly climbed an incline, then veered towards a steep drop-off on the side of the road.
Stefan says he was only able to stop the vehicle by repeatedly pumping the brakes. After he regained control, he reversed back to the intersection where the initial impact occurred. However, upon returning to the scene, he said, he found the Jeep had left.
The incident has left Stefan severely out of pocket. He told News 3 that the repair bill for his vehicle is in the realm of $15,000 to $20,000. With only liability coverage on his vehicle, his insurance will not cover the repairs, he told the news site.
As shown in his YouTube video description, Stefan is presently seeking the help of the community to track down the owners of the Jeep involved in the crash. The occupants of the Jeep are readily visible in the captured footage. However, the Jeep had no front plate, and the cameras on Stefan’s Tesla didn’t capture a clear shot of the rear.
Nevada law requires most vehicles to display both front and rear plates at all times, barring trailers and motorcycles. The only exception is for vehicles that were not designed for a front plate. The Jeep Wrangler does not fit under this exception, though it’s unclear where the vehicle was registered.
The owner, Radu Stefan, tells me the car malfunctioned after the crash and started driving. There is extensive damage to the front.
He was able to stop the car by pumping the breaks, but it veered off the road. He says by the time he had control, the Jeep drove away. pic.twitter.com/dXBQFbP3Ps
— Cristen Drummond (@CristenDrummond) July 13, 2024
The video has led to widespread speculation on Twitter and beyond. Some allege that the Tesla didn’t malfunction, and that instead, Stefan may have accidentally pressed the throttle instead of the brake. It’s worth noting that Tesla has dealt with unintended acceleration cases before. Barring the recent kerfuffle with the Cybertruck, the NHTSA has previously determined most are the result of user error, not a malfunction. With that said, the agency did recently reopen its investigation concerning sudden unintended acceleration in Tesla vehicles in June last year.
As for the Jeep driver, their identity remains a mystery. Some contemplated the driver fled out of guilt, others suggesting it was out of fear after the Tesla rammed the Jeep. In any case, it appears the driver has yet to come forward to authorities at this stage. The Autopian has contacted Stefan and Nevada State Police for information as to the current state of the matter.
Stefan’s Tesla captured the incident from multiple angles.
Ultimately, this was clearly a harrowing and confusing crash for all involved. A head-on collision is ugly enough without all the ramming and shoving afterwards. Stefan was also lucky to not end up with his Tesla rolling down an embankment immediately afterwards. Here’s hoping the Jeep owner identifies themselves so this matter can be brought to a swift and proper close.
Image credits: Radu Stefan via YouTube screenshot
“BRAKES”, Ms. Drummond, not “breaks”. The illiterati reveal themselves much too often.
Cristen Drummond
@CristenDrummond
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The owner, Radu Stefan, tells me the car malfunctioned after the crash and started driving. There is extensive damage to the front.
He was able to stop the car by pumping the breaks, but it veered off the road. He says by the time he had control, the Jeep drove away.
“With only liability coverage on his vehicle, his insurance will not cover the repairs…”
I am sure his health insurance, pet insurance, home owners insurance and life insurance won’t pay to cover the repair either, as they are completely different types of insurance than the one people literally buy to pay for repairs to their cars when they get into accidents.
If you can’t afford to insure your car you can’t afford your car.
Terrible Jeep driver and questionable activity from the Tesla post-collision aside, there is absolutely no way you could get me to pose for that photo the reporter took of him. That is the face of a man who knows he has made bad decisions.
Can’t blame the Tesla from running away from a rusting Jeep.
Maybe to the Jeep, it was the Tesla that did the hit and run. It clearly did both in the video.
+1
“I would like to report a hit and run”
“Ok can you give us more details?”
“Well this guy hit me, and then I hit him and ran away. And When I came back he was gone”
Is that a 392 Wrangler? Might make it easier to find.
That said, this whole thing is weird. If I hit someone and then they rammed me and took off wildly, I might leave, too. But then I’d probably report the accident later and make it clear why I left.
The part of this that bugs me so much is this clown not having full coverage on his expensive, prone-to-issues purchase. This is one of those self-made problems.
I think I know why, having plugged a bunch of vehicles into my insurance for quotes: Teslas are not cheap to insure. I think a fair number of people buy without realizing that, so they try to save money by reducing insurance. Not a good idea, but I wonder if it’s what led to this.
The only vehicle I plugged in that cost more (and only slightly, surprisingly) was an EQS. It was also the most expensive vehicle I threw in there. Other EVs, like the EV6, the ID.4, or the Mach E, were all less than half the price of the Tesla.
Damn, I knew Teslas cost more to insure but I didn’t realize just how much more it was.
Doesn’t Tesla offer their own insurance for Teslas that is much cheaper?
That’s what they claim, but it isn’t available in all states and reports on the premiums vary. It’s not available in Idaho, so I haven’t tried to get a quote. I’m not sure they’ll give you a quote without already owning/leasing a Tesla, since it goes through their app and would look for the vehicle attached to the account.
From the video, it looks like the collision happened, then the Tesla backed up and then accelerated forward, ramming the Jeep and then taking off around the corner. This doesn’t look to me like someone mistakenly hit the accelerator. I think it was either a malfunction of the car, or the driver did it on purpose. I would think that if a person had the presence of mind to reverse away from the collision, he would have the presence of mind to put the car in park, collect his wits and get out to check on the other vehicle if appropriate. So, either he’s telling the truth and the car malfunctioned, or he flipped out and rammed the Jeep and then tried to get away. To be kind, I’ll extend the benefit of the doubt until it’s shown to be otherwise.
Also, I don’t fault the Jeep for taking off after the car backed up and then rammed them.
Looked more like the force of the Jeep pushed the Tesla backwards a few feet before starting forward (not reversing then going forward).
Yeah, that’s possible. It looked like a bigger reverse when looking at the backward camera feed, but when looking at the front camera, I’d tend to agree with you.
Maybe the Tesla owner did mash the accelerator ( in the post they said the event occurred in 2007) but doesn’t the Tesla log the input and able to determine if that is the case? That data would need to be taken with a grain of salt if the theory is that the system was confused and accelerated on its own.
But wouldn’t it be nice to have the option to turn off the car? like maybe a key, or even a button? do teslas have have a switch for a parking break?
Hit the button on the end of the right stalk to put it into Park. They also automatically hold position with no pedal input if the settings are configured for enough regen for one pedal driving. It’s a very deliberate action to get a Tesla to move.
The Model 3 wasn’t introduced until 2017..
Can see the You Tube headline now.
“We destroyed a Tesla! Watch the owner go mental!”
“At least no Jeeps were harmed here.” (ed. DT)
Seems to be the “ID10T” issue with the Tesla driver.
Our brains can do weird things when startled. Like hit the gas instead of the brakes.
Way weirder than that is having a super expensive car to insure with only liability. I’m going to generalize, but I’m assuming the owner wanted a Tesla so bad he cut some questionable financial corners.
Side story: there are a ton of white standard range model 3’s in my town. I’ve talked to a bunch of them, and they all said the same thing: “I wanted a Tesla, and this is the cheapest one.” Some went on to remark how they wanted a different colour, but it was too expensive. Which… if you can’t afford $52k, you probably can’t afford $49k either.
The poverty spec cars are way, WAY cheaper than that. You see them everywhere because it worked out to something sub $30k after the incentives.
Former Hertz rentals too. The cheapest are around $20k after the tax credit.
I’m in Canada.
Tesla Autopilot: so realistic, they even coded in road rage!
Liability insurance on a Tesla? Wild.
Insurance on these things is crazy high and a used 3 isn’t worth that much, I bet it’s a lot more common that you’d think.
Insuring my model 3 LR was cheaper than the 2009 Audi A4 it replaced. It seems to be situation specific rather than generally more expensive.
So obviously not financed?
Seriously! I still carry collision on my truck that’s worth like $5k at best.
yep I had a beater destroyed in a hit and run and having liability fucked me. would’ve been worth the extra few dollars a month to have gotten even a few grand out of that car.
Why? Just save that $ and put it into something more productive. Insurance isn’t even going to bother fixing a $5K beater – they’ll just total it.
This is the best ad for mandatory front plates I’ve ever seen.
Yeah I wouldn’t have stayed there either if I was in the jeep. I would have called it in to the police but after the Tesla driver rammed my vehicle and drove off in extremely erratic behavior, I would think they are in a manic state or a dangerous individual.
Exactly this. I would have called it in, but I would have assumed road rage and gotten out of there.
Absolutely. There could be other factors at play, but I would absolutely have thought they were a maniac. Even reading the article before watching the video, the incident looked a lot like road rage. Could he have hit the gas instead of the brake on accident? Sure, but that wouldn’t have been my first assumption.
Especially after seeing the rear-view camera footage. It looks like the Tesla drove out of sight of the Jeep. Personally, I would have pulled over and examined the damage before moving on, but I can definitely see the Jeepers getting the creepers from the Tesla and getting the hell away.
Doesn’t excuse not calling it in to police after finding a safe spot to pull over.