People choose many different forms of suicide. We don’t condone this action, one recent accident proved the Tesla Model Y is a poor choice for ending things.
In recent news, Dharmesh Patel drove a Tesla Model Y off a 250-foot cliff with his family inside. This crash is still being investigated, but early indications are that the plunge was an intentional attempt at vehicular suicide while trying to take his family to the grave with him. As luck would have it, nobody died in this crash.
Setting the scene
The scene of the harrowing fall over the cliff was Highway 1 in California. Anyone familiar with this road knows it’s a winding road that follows the coastline closely with the Pacific Ocean below. The area where Patel drove off the road was about 20 miles south of San Francisco. The setting was ideal for such a fatal attempt, but the vehicle was found right-side up with the family inside. The perch where the vehicle rested is directly above the ocean below, where investigators believe Patel chose to meet a watery death but was somehow denied this ending.
The unexpected result
The odds of occupants of a vehicle surviving a crash from 250 feet above are extremely low. Automakers don’t test for crashes like this one, but the vehicle’s build and the lucky circumstances of the fall saved this family from certain death.
It’s hard to know just how close to being in the depths of the ocean they came, but engineers give us some insights into the crash and why the Tesla Model Y was capable of saving this family. All family members were taken to the hospital and remain in critical condition but have a high likelihood of survival.
Crash experts give it their best guess
Although some authorities have guessed the vehicle likely flipped and hit the side of the cliff, some crash experts say that’s not at all possible. Although it isn’t clear whether or not the vehicle flipped, it’s pretty clear the roof didn’t make an impact with the cliffside. Some experts believe if the roof had impacted the cliff, it would have caved in, and the entire family would have been killed.
As luck would have it, the Model Y landed right-side up mostly because of its center of gravity. This electric vehicle has its battery pack in the floor. This spreads out the weight and likely allowed the vehicle to land on its wheels instead of hitting the cliff shelf nose first. Had this SUV been a gas-engine model with the engine in the front, it would have landed nose first.
An unexpected soft landing
Although much harder than the ball pit that children play in at Chuck E. Cheese, the landing spot of the Tesla Model Y was mostly made of pebblelike rocks and sand. This softened the landing for the vehicle that was likely falling at 80 mph on the way down to this spot. All things considered, the family members are extremely lucky. They still had some survival space inside the vehicle once they hit the shelf. Several factors were at play to keep this family from becoming four fatalities instead of four survivors.
The Model Y is a top safety pick
The IIHS has given the Tesla Model Y top safety scores since it first came to the market in 2020. That said, no automakers test for crashes such as this one. Most vehicles have become safer over the past several years, but this is a completely unpredictable event that should never happen. This family is extremely lucky to be alive, although Patel could be charged with attempted murder for driving his family off the cliff.
The most confusing part of this entire story is whether or not there was a motive for Patel to take his family to a watery grave. Patel is a doctor who worked at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Los Angeles. This heartbreaking story has a happy ending, with the entire family surviving because of some luck, an excellent SUV, and the choice of an EV as the vehicle is taken over the cliff.
Although you’re not likely looking for a vehicle to purposely crash into something, this story of survival is certainly another example of just how good new EVs are, especially the Tesla Model Y, which is one of the most popular and trusted EVs in the market.
This post may contain affiliate links. Meaning a commission is given should you decide to make a purchase through these links, at no cost to you. All products shown are researched and tested to give an accurate review for you.