A British YouTuber was recently left stranded on the side of the road for hours after his Tesla shut down and trapped him inside.
Tom Exton, a YouTube personality who focuses on the collection of cars and watches, was traveling to London in the Tesla that he bought 5 days prior when the incident occurred.
Exton said he started out with close to a full charge and after only 15 minutes into his trip, his Model Y forced him to pull over, Business Insider reported.
He said on Twitter that the screen inside “glitched” and he “couldn’t do anything.” Minutes later “all power to the car was gone,” he told Insider.
It’s totally dead mate. The 12V seemed to pack up almost on the spot. Wasn’t much time to get it into a safe ish place and try much after it said this pic.twitter.com/4S6ngisLKH
— TGE (@TGE_LDNM) December 8, 2022
Exton said he was left inside the “dark car in [the] pitch black on the side of a busy road in freezing temps, with [a] dying phone battery.”
Since Teslas require power to unlock, he said he “couldn’t open the door by conventional means,” and “had to use the emergency manual-override latch on the door.”
Doing so “somehow broke the driver’s window,” Exton said.
Would you ever own a Tesla?
Yes: 13% (1 Votes)
No: 87% (7 Votes)
After two hours, roadside assistance finally arrived.
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
Despite Exton’s tweet about buying a Polestar, he did tell Insider that Tesla’s customer service was very helpful and even offered to pay for a night at a hotel.
“Safe to say horror stories of @Tesla cars being appalling seem true,” Exton said on Twitter. “Brand new fully charged car just cut out on the motorway.”
Many Twitter users appeared to take offense at Exton blaming Tesla for his experience, with one user saying: “Would bet good money this is completely fabricated.”
I’ve already Tweeted this picture, you must pay more attention.
Can clearly see 216 miles of range left AND the vehicle shutting down.
Point 2 you’ve literally made up; I assume motivated by your Tesla shares evaporating in value by the day. Good luck. https://t.co/9iUm3zu1Lz pic.twitter.com/SP1GJuLz0i— TGE (@TGE_LDNM) December 10, 2022
“Who are these people! Last 48 hours has been an absolute freakshow in my mentions,” Exton said in response to another tweet calling his experience “fake.”
A fellow YouTuber from Essex, England, came to Exton’s defense, tweeting: “I love it when the argument is ‘I’ve never had a problem so you must be lying.’”
This is just one of many recent reports of problems plaguing electric vehicles — another being repeatedly catching fire.
This occurred last month and it took over 12,000 gallons of water to extinguish the fire – 24 times more water than a normal vehicle fire usually requires.
