‘Neck Still Hurts’: Man Looks At His Phone While His Tesla Is In FSD. Then a Deer Appears On the Road

A Tesla Model 3 Performance owner credits his vehicle’s safety features in spotting a deer and preventing a possibly dangerous collision. Ethan Steury (@ethan.steury) posted a viral TikTok showcasing the close call where he gives a glowing appraisal of the brand’s safety features.

The clip begins on Steury. He begins his video with a positive assessment of his Tesla. 

“Check out this video I literally just got that goes to show why Teslas are some of the safest cars on the road,” he says into the lens.

Tesla Clocks a Deer

“So I was just cruising along in Full Self Driving [FSD], right? I was looking at my phone, shouldn’t have been doing that… Car’s just driving down the road, no problem. And then all of a sudden the car slams on the brakes I get thrown forward into the seatbelt,” he tells viewers. At this point in the clip he points to a slight red marking on his body, right above his shirt’s collar. “And my neck still hurts right here from where the seatbelt was. Anyways, check out this awesome save by my Tesla,” he tells folks watching his clip.

Next, his video cuts to dashcam footage of a dark night road. Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” plays in the background for a few seconds before a deer is seen running into the middle of the road. Steury’s Tesla comes to a quick stop as the animal runs across both lanes. Thanks to the vehicle’s auto-braking functionality, it prevented Steury’s vehicle from slamming into the animal, saving its life and potentially Steury’s as well in the process.

The TikToker can be heard grunting in the background from the impact of the quick stop, as lightning flashes in the sky.

Full Self-Driving Working As Intended

Steury’s video then cuts back to him speaking into the camera where he praises Tesla’s Full Self-Driving road monitoring capabilities. “You could see the computer was predicting the deer would keep running across the road. So that’s why it moved over to the left a little bit. It also didn’t see any traffic in front of it. Although it was on a double yellow line. But it came to a complete stop,” he says, holding up his fingers to illustrate just how close the vehicle came to hitting the animal.

“And then it kept going. No interventions from me whatsoever,” he says into the camera. “And that’s just another reason to get a Tesla,” Steury says, smiling into the camera.

This incident joins other uploaded instances where Tesla drivers showcased their vehicles effectively predicting accidents. Like this one 2016 clip where a Tesla equipped with radar was able to spot a traffic fluctuation and slow a car down, preventing it from potentially getting involved in the wreckage. Some have criticized the brand’s decision to move away from radar and relying entirely on cameras as a drawback, mitigating its safety efficacy.

FROM THE TRENDING NEWS DESK

Viral bits from across the social media landscape

Our team of experts tracks what's trending so you don't have to—from viral videos to online debates that have everyone talking.

FSD Under Fire

However, there are numerous lawsuits involving the EV maker’s FSD and Autopilot functionality. Forbes writes that many of these cases highlight instances where commuters were either severely injured or passed away. And that these same cases allege FSD and/or Autopilot inadequacies as the leading factors for the cited Tesla crashes.

InsideEVs also reported on another Tesla driver who posted a video of a Model Y with its FSD engaged, allegedly attempting to steer the car into a pond. This viral clip is reminiscent of another incident where a Model 3 purportedly ignored road signs indicating heavy flooding. A recording from this car’s dashcam shows it driving into a large body of water, hydroplaning, then careening off the road and into a pond, totaling the car.

FSD Hitting a Deer

While Steury’s Tesla was able to clock a deer running sideways on a road with FSD engaged, other drivers weren’t so lucky. This video shows a Tesla cruising on FSD, when suddenly, a white-tail deer appears in front of the vehicle, its back to the car, right before it’s struck by the vehicle. Due to the positioning of the animal paired with the headlights and white lines on the road, the animal is difficult to see until the very last moment. As one X user wrote: “Note: while the deer is slightly visible in the video for a second before impact, to the human eye, it just looked like another uneven patch of road.”

---

---

The driver showed off the damage to their vehicle online and said their experience in dealing with Tesla service after the fact wasn't satisfactory. Furthermore, they claimed that their vehicle’s FSD didn’t slow their vehicle down even after colliding with the creature. “Hit the deer with my Tesla.  FSD didn’t stop. Even after hitting the deer on full speed. Huge surprise after getting a dozen of false stops every day!”

InsideEVs has reached out to Steury via Instagram DM for further comment.

 

Get the best news, reviews, columns, and more delivered straight to your inbox.

 

back

Subscribe For more info, read our Privacy Policy & Terms of Use.

 

 

 

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Insideevs.com?

Take our 3 minute survey.

- The InsideEVs team