As well as being known for building some of the best electric vehicles on the road, they are arguably also the safest, thanks to the rigid structure and extremely low centre of gravity.
Justin Bowen, a Tesla owner over in America experienced the effects of this first hand, when he veered off a mountain road while behind the wheel of his fully-electric Model X SUV.
@elonmusk as an early adopter of @Tesla using AP 1.0 AP 2.5 for over over 50K total AP miles I can contribute more than just my experience as an engineer but also an avid user. My X even saved my life; tow truck driver said it was a 70° slope surprised I stopped and didn’t flip. pic.twitter.com/60zKYl0gDa
— Justin Bowen (@TonsOfFun111) February 3, 2020
According to Bowen, he was travelling along the dangerous road during a lightning storm when he lost control of the SUV. The SUV then plunged down a seriously steep embankment before coming to a stop.
The electric SUV demonstrated its incredible stability during this plunge, and stayed on all four wheels. It was later revealed that Tesla's Automatic Emergency Braking system managed to stop the SUV on the 70-degree decline.
This is down to Tesla mounting the EV's battery packs underneath the floor. As they're the heaviest component of the SUV, this holds all the weight between the wheels and prevent rollovers.
"The car wasn’t on Autopilot and this road is notoriously dangerous. There was a truck a few hundred feet further down. Any other car would have flipped and gone much further down. Autopilot emergency braked as soon as I went off the road and the extreme slope. Saving my life," Bowen said.
Miraculously, Bowen was able to walk away from the incident without injury, and was taken to a local motel by the tow truck driver. The two returned the next day to retrieve the EV.
During its time on the market, we've seen Tesla's SUV survive many collisions, drive through water, and even jump 'Dukes of Hazzard' style over another street. So it's really no surprise to see another one doing incredible things.