A Tesla sitting at an intersection in Nevada was hit by a Jeep on July 7. Instead of staying on the scene to swap insurance details, however, the Tesla sped away from the crash site and its owner had to fight to stop the car and bring it back under control.
The Tesla was stopped at an intersection in Mount Charleston, Nevada, when a Jeep Wrangler rounded the corner and smashed into the front of the car, reports Business Insider. The crash was caught on a camera mounted to the Tesla, which then shows the strange response from the car following the crash.
After being shunted by the Jeep, the car quickly sped away from the scene, driving through a field of debris and up onto a grassy verge – reportedly of its own accord:
It was scary enough when Radu and Angela Stefan were in a head-on collision with another vehicle while driving their Tesla on Mount Charleston in Nevada on the afternoon of July 7.
But the nightmare got worse when Radu Stefan’s Tesla began accelerating on its own moments after a Jeep Rubicon turned around a corner and hit them head-on while they were stopped at an intersection, he told a local news outlet. The Jeep later drove away from the scene, according to Stefan.
So far, it has not been confirmed whether Autopilot or Full Self-Drive was operating at the time of the crash. But still, it sounds like a pretty scary ordeal for Radu Stefan, who spoke to News 3 Las Vegas about the events of July 7, which they described as “like a horror movie.”
According to the Tesla driver, the malfunction caused the car to accelerate up into the mountains. Stefan made numerous attempts to bring the car to a halt, but by the time they had it back under control they had watched as the Jeep that hit them drove away.
As the Jeep fled the scene, local police are now investigating the crash and looking for information about the owner of the white Wrangler. As News 3 reports:
“Some people stopped, trying to help us,” Radu said “We had no cell phone service at that location. So, somebody went and called the Rangers.”
First responders and Nevada State Police responded to the crash. Radu said police are investigating but have not identified the driver of the Jeep.
By now, we’re used to reading about Tesla cars hitting parked vehicles while operating with the self-drive system running. This year alone a Full-Self Drive-enable Tesla has attempted to drive into a speeding train and another has collided with a parked police cruiser.
Because of this, the automaker has drawn scrutiny from regulators across the U.S., with the Justice Department even going so far as to accuse the automaker of fraud for its exaggerated Autopilot claims.