Tesla Driver Accidentally Uses Emergency Drive Away [VIDEO]

We now have our first look at Tesla’s Emergency Drive Away feature being used in the real world, though it doesn’t look like the driver meant to use it.

Reddit user Joshua Leshnick (/u/Joshalander) shared a video of the incident, which took place at an Austin Supercharger early last Sunday, before they headed to the F1 race. They said they “heard a pop” and looked over to see that the Tesla next to them had just broken away from its stall.

What the Video Shows

The clip is short. The driver sits in the Model Y tapping through prompts on the touchscreen, then pulls forward and away from the stall while the charging cable is still connected. A few seconds later, he gets out and walks back toward the Supercharger, seemingly realizing what just happened.

“Genuinely felt bad for the dude,” Leshnick said, adding that he looked exhausted and “only seemed to half read the prompts.”

How Emergency Drive Away Works

Tesla introduced Emergency Drive Away earlier this month with software update 2026.38.3. Tesla vehicles normally won’t shift into gear while plugged in, but this feature is meant as a last resort if you feel threatened or need to leave a Supercharger in an emergency.

Tesla added several safeguards to prevent accidental use. Trying to shift out of Park while plugged in brings up a red warning on the touchscreen, and confirming requires holding the brake pedal while tapping “Activate.” As you drive off, the charging handle breaks away from the port.

That comes at a cost. The breakaway damages your car’s charge port, which needs a service visit, and Tesla says repairing a Supercharger stall can cost up to $25,000. Short camera clips are also sent to Tesla to confirm there was a real emergency, and misuse can lead to penalties. There’s no word yet on whether this driver has been fined.

Emergency Drive Away currently only works at Superchargers in the U.S. It’s available on all modern Tesla models, excluding legacy Model S and Model X vehicles built before 2021. Tesla recently surpassed 85,000 Supercharger stalls globally, so an international release could be coming soon.

Tesla May Need Better Warnings

This first documented use of the feature shows how easy it can be to run through warnings (even those that require secondary confirmations) without reading them, especially early in the morning. Leshnick suggested Tesla add stronger “soft gates,” like making the whole screen flash red and playing a loud alert similar to FSD’s “take over immediately” warning, to stop people from “mindlessly clicking through the prompts.”

Tesla’s Director of Charging, Max de Zegher, previously said Tesla will improve the feature quickly based on feedback. A more emphasized explanation of the damage it causes, or an audible warning, could be a good place to start. The hard part is making sure Emergency Drive Away stays quick to use in a real emergency without being easy to trigger by mistake.