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Tesla Model 3 Saves Lives in Head-On Collision, Is Feel-Good Story of the Day

Every once in a while, word of the bad build quality of Tesla vehicles gets out, spreads like wildfire online and gets the fanboys rallied up, complaining about how no other automaker ever gets this kind of flak for standard factory defects. This is not one of those times.
Tesla Model 3 after head-on, high-speed collision with pickup truck 1 photo
Photo: Twitter / Tesla Columbus Ohio Owners Club
Tesla is not just the leading EV maker in the industry right now, it’s also the most polarizing automaker of recent times. Whatever it does, whether it’s good or bad, tends to play out to the global audience, on a worldwide scale, and generates very heated responses from both sides. This time, it’s a positive story.

A Tesla Model 3 owner owes her and her friend’s life to the car, after a head-on, high-speed collision with a truck going the wrong way. The news comes from the Tesla Columbus Ohio Owners Club, with a special acknowledgment by the man himself, Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The driver is Jen Dunlap, who says she’s “lucky to be alive,” and also to have walked away from a gruesome crash with just minor injuries.

According to the information made public on Twitter, Jen was driving her Model 3, with a friend in the passenger seat. A drunk driver in a truck coming from the opposite direction at 70 mph / 112.6 kph smashed into the Tesla head on, after going the wrong way. These are what you may call perfect ingredients for a disaster recipe, but luckily, it wasn’t so.

Jen received only minor injuries, while the passenger required hospitalization for observation, but is believed to be ok. The driver of the pickup was hurt but was not in serious condition, which means he was taken in for booking after the crash. This was his second DUI this year, because that’s how some people roll.

“Thank you [Elon Musk] for building the safest cars which allowed for her and her friend to survive a 70+ mph head on collision,” the Columbus Ohio Owners Club writes to the CEO.

These aren’t just empty words, either: Model 3 has the five-star rating in NHTSA crash tests to prove it.



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About the author: Elena Gorgan
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Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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