Tesla owner says Model X saved his life after crash down a hill

A Tesla Model X owner says that his electric SUV saved his life after he veered off the road and the car automatically applied the brakes as he was going down a hill.

In 2017, the Tesla Model X officially became the highest safety-rated SUV by a significant margin with 5-star ratings in every safety category in NHTSA’s tests.

The electric SUV has earned several other top safety ratings, but none higher than actual owners sharing their safety experiences.

Tesla Model X owner Justin Bowen recently shared his story of crashing his vehicle, which he believes saved his life.

He said that he was driving down a road during a freezing-cold lightning storm last year when he lost control and the vehicle went off-road:

@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

Tesla claimed that they couldn’t “flip” the Model X during internal crash testing and they said that they broke their machine when trying to test the roof strength.

Not only did the Model X not flip during Bowen’s crash, but he also says that Tesla’s Automatic Emergency Braking system helped slow the vehicle down:

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.

He said that he was able to just walk out of the vehicle and the California Highway Patrol drove him to a motel. He came back the next day with a tow truck.

Bowen is not the first person to say that his Model X saved his life.

In 2018, a Tesla Model X owner said the vehicle “saved” him and a passenger after a plane crashed into his electric SUV. We have also previously reported on another Model X owner who said that he “wants his family back in a Tesla” after surviving a severe crash.

Two months ago, the Tesla Model X was named ‘standout performer’ in new safety crash tests.