An automotive influencer from the U.K. has taken his frustrations with his Tesla Model Y online after the vehicle broke down on the road and trapped him inside.
Tom Exton, a YouTube personality and car collector, told Insider that he was driving to London on the night of Thursday, December 8, when, within minutes of leaving his home, the Model Y starting “shutting down.”
Fortunately, the five-day-old Tesla did manage to tell the driver that he should “pull over safely.” In a photo taken by Exton, the infotainment screen said that the “electrical system is unable to support all features. Switching off features to conserve energy.”
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Safe to say horror stories of @Tesla cars being appalling seem true. Brand new fully charged car just cut out on the motorway. Had to use emergency door release to get out, which somehow broke the drivers window.
Shit show @elonmusk
— TGE (@TGE_LDNM) December 8, 2022
Exton said that he was just 15 minutes into his drive, and the photo reveals that the crossover should have had a nearly full charge, with 216 miles (348 km) of range left when it started shutting down.
Unfortunately, the loss of power meant more than simply a sudden end to his journey. Exton reports that “all power to the car was gone,” and that the door wouldn’t open by conventional means, as a result. Feeling trapped, he pulled the manual override latch to open the door.
Add A Broken Window Driver To The Mix
That’s when injury was very nearly added to insult. Exton said on Twitter that using the emergency door release “somehow broke the drivers [sic] window.” Indeed, in other cases, Tesla’s unusual door have allegedly trapped drivers in even more dire circumstances. In one case, an owner in Canada claimed that he was forced to kick out his vehicle’s window in order to escape a Model Y that had caught fire.
Tesla has not yet responded to a request for comment from Carscoops.
Out of the vehicle and unable to do much else, Exton called for a tow, which wound up leaving him stranded on the side of the road in freezing temperatures for six hours. In a pair of tweets, he relayed that he was just glad that his partner and his dogs weren’t with him when this occurred.
Although he said that Tesla customer service was helpful, he has some advice for people looking to buy an EV: “There’s a reason they punted so many out the door on cheap lease deals. Do yourself a favour and get a Polestar. Or anything other than a Tesla.”
Just relieved gf/dogs are not with me. In minus 3, middle of nowhere. Been 2 hours so far waiting for AA.
There’s a reason they punted so many out the door on cheap lease deals. Do yourself a favour and get a Polestar. Or anything other than a Tesla.
— TGE (@TGE_LDNM) December 8, 2022