Tesla will pay for damages on Model S used by owner to rescue unconscious driver in runaway car

As we reported yesterday, a Tesla driver sacrificed his Model S to help save an unconscious man having a stroke on the highway. The unconscious man’s station wagon was out of control on the highway and the Tesla driver slowed his car in front of the wagon until it hit the bumper in order to bring it to a stop.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has now congratulated him for his heroic action and even said that Tesla would pay for the damages.

Maybe even more importantly, Musk said that Tesla would expedite the repairs, which can take a long time in certain markets – Germany in this case since it happened on the Autobahn near Munich in Southern Germany on Monday night.

Here’s exactly what happened as we reported it yesterday:

A 57-year-old man driving a VW Passat apparently lost consciousness while driving. It obviously resulted in a lost control and the vehicle hit the guardrail a few times, but it was still going fast.

That’s when the vehicle was spotted by a Tesla driver who realized that the VW driver was unconscious and decided to position his Model S in front of the VW and slow down until the vehicle collided.

He managed to bring it to a stop. The police and fire brigade arrived and transported the man to the hospital. His condition is unknown at the moment, but they believed he suffered a stroke. Pictures via the Munich fire brigade:

The damages to the vehicles appear to be limited to the front bumper for the VW and the rear bumper for the Tesla. The police estimated the damages at a total of around 10,000 euros ($10,600 USD).

The Tesla driver, Manfred Kick, has since given interviews to local media and shared pictures of the damages:

That’s a pain, but at least his bravery is not going unrecognized. Beyond the congratulations he received through the media, even Elon Musk is taking time to congratulate him:

Congrats to the Tesla owner who sacrificed damage to his own car to bring a car with an unconscious driver safely to a stop!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 15, 2017

Now to repair the car and get it back on the road.