In an interview with Teslarati, an early Tesla Model 3 owner, shared her story of how her Tesla saved her and her family’s lives when they were hit by another car. Anna Febiana was picking up her son and daughter from school and were just minutes away from their home when they were struck by a BMW.
Anna took delivery of her Model 3 in December of 2018 and the accident happened on October 1, 2019. Although it happened two years ago, this was a hard story for Anna to share due to the trauma but she believed that people need to know that her Tesla saved her and her family’s lives.
“That was a Thursday afternoon and the crazy thing is that people think accidents happen on the freeway or the busy street. No, it was two miles away from my house at a quiet intersection. I was hit by a Series 5 BMW. I think it’s an older version, like the early 2000s. The car was bigger than my Tesla Model 3.”
The impact caused her car to spin twice and crash into a wooden street pole that fell onto the roof over her Model 3. It was the glass roof that prevented the pole from fully penetrating the roof. Although it left a hole, the glass held.
Tesla glass is a key safety design in its vehicles and it can not only protect drivers from UV rays but it can take on four times the weight of the car. This fact has been proven in multiple stories of accidents where miraculously, the occupants in the car survived.
“I don’t think we could have come out of the car to tell this story if it’s not for stable the Model 3 was. But also especially for my son, if it was not for how strong the roof of the car was, I don’t think he would be here,” Anna told me over the phone.
Anna’s daughter was sitting on the back passenger’s side where the impact occurred. Although she and her daughter had concussions, there were no bruises.
“The back wheel on the passenger side was completely crooked. My daughter was sitting there and because of how good the airbags were inside, I believe that saved my daughter. Both my daughter and I had concussions. My daughter had it a little bit worse than I had it. But there were no bruises on my daughter. It’s a miracle.”
Anna told me that she believed that God protected her that day through how safe the Model 3 was. She also didn’t realize how bad the accident was.
“After the accident, my son had all this corn-sized glass on top of his head and I didn’t have time to analyze anything. I was so shocked. My kids were in shock. My son had a bloody nose and half of his face was swollen.”
At that moment, her focus was on her children, not the accident itself. So she didn’t realize how bad it was until afterward. The car, she told me, didn’t flip over and they were able to leave the car.
When she saw the car after the accident, that’s when the gravity of the situation set in. She realized that all of the airbags had been deployed. And there was a big dent in the glass roof and a hole. The hole was above where her son was sitting. It was then she realized where those corn-sized pieces of glass came from.
“I don’t know if any other car has airbags the way Tesla designs the car with the airbags but with the strong impact, I had the side airbags deployed. The back–and I believe, as I said, saved my kids. That and how strong the car was.”
“My daughter got out of that crash with just a concussion. It’s a testament to how well built the car was.”
“When my car spun and stopped, the back of the car hit a street pole. I’ve never seen a wooden street pole anymore. I believe that the pole is the last of a kind in the city. It’s a wooden pole that held three different street signs. It was so heavy and I think that’s why the glass broke but it didn’t break completely.”
“Coming back and looking at the car, I got chills. Had it been any other glass or roof, I don’t think my son would be here today. He was sitting under that pole.”
Anna was the first person in her circle of friends to buy a Tesla. Many of her friends said that she was fancy and no, she was just tired of paying for service and maintenance and wanted to contribute to the planet by driving an EV.
After the accident, she told me that many of her friends had skeptical questions. She told them that she was alive because her car was a Model 3. And of course, she was going to get another Tesla.
“People need to know. This is a good car. It’s fancy for some people. But it’s safe and I will get it again. And we got another Model 3.”
Note: Johnna is a Tesla shareholder and supports its mission.
Your feedback is important. If you have any comments, or concerns, or see a typo, you can email me at johnna@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @JohnnaCrider1
News
Tesla’s six-seat extended wheelbase Model Y L sold out for January 2026
Estimated delivery dates for new Tesla Model Y L orders now extend all the way into February 2026.
The Tesla Model Y L seems to be in high demand in China, with estimated delivery dates for new orders now extending all the way into February 2026.
This suggests that the Model Y L has been officially sold out from the rest of 2025 to January 2026.
Model Y L estimated delivery dates
The Model Y L’s updated delivery dates mark an extension from the vehicle’s previous 4-8 week estimated wait time. A detailed chart shared by Tesla data tracker @Tslachan on X shows the progressions of the Model Y L’s estimated delivery dates since its launch earlier this year.
Following its launch in September, the vehicle was given an initial October 2025 estimated delivery date. The wait times for the vehicle were continually updated over the years, until the middle of November, when the Model Y L had an estimated delivery date of 4-8 weeks. This remained until now, when Tesla China simply listed February 2026 as the estimated delivery date for new Model Y L orders.
Model Y demand in China
Tesla Model Y demand in China seems to be very healthy, even beyond the Model Y L. New delivery dates show the company has already sold out its allocation of the all-electric crossover for 2025. The Model Y has been the most popular vehicle in the world in both of the last two years, outpacing incredibly popular vehicles like the Toyota RAV4. In China, the EV market is substantially more saturated, with more competitors than in any other market.
Tesla has been particularly kind to the Chinese market, as it has launched trim levels for the Model Y in the country that are not available anywhere else, such as the Model Y L. Demand has been strong for the Model Y in China, with the vehicle ranking among the country’s top 5 New Energy Vehicles. Interestingly enough, vehicles that beat the Model Y in volume like the BYD Seagull are notably more affordable. Compared to vehicles that are comparably priced, the Model Y remains a strong seller in China.
Elon Musk
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang commends Tesla’s Elon Musk for early belief
“And when I announced DGX-1, nobody in the world wanted it. I had no purchase orders, not one. Nobody wanted to buy it. Nobody wanted to be part of it, except for Elon.”
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast on Wednesday and commended Tesla CEO Elon Musk for his early belief in what is now the most valuable company in the world.
Huang and Musk are widely regarded as two of the greatest tech entrepreneurs of the modern era, with the two working in conjunction as NVIDIA’s chips are present in Tesla vehicles, particularly utilized for self-driving technology and data collection.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang regrets not investing more in Elon Musk’s xAI
Both CEOs defied all odds and created companies from virtually nothing. Musk joined Tesla in the early 2000s before the company had even established any plans to build a vehicle. Jensen created NVIDIA in the booth of a Denny’s restaurant, which has been memorialized with a plaque.
On the JRE episode, Rogan asked about Jensen’s relationship with Elon, to which the NVIDIA CEO said that Musk was there when nobody else was:
“I was lucky because I had known Elon Musk, and I helped him build the first computer for Model 3, the Model S, and when he wanted to start working on an autonomous vehicle. I helped him build the computer that went into the Model S AV system, his full self-driving system. We were basically the FSD computer version 1, and so we were already working together.
And when I announced DGX-1, nobody in the world wanted it. I had no purchase orders, not one. Nobody wanted to buy it. Nobody wanted to be part of it, except for Elon.
He goes ‘You know what, I have a company that could really use this.’ I said, Wow, my first customer. And he goes, it’s an AI company, and it’s a nonprofit and and we could really use one of these supercomputers. I boxed one up, I drove it up to San Francisco, and I delivered it to the Elon in 2016.”
The first DGX-1 AI supercomputer was delivered personally to Musk when he was with OpenAI, which provided crucial early compute power for AI research, accelerating breakthroughs in machine learning that underpin modern tools like ChatGPT.
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The long-term alliance between NVIDIA and Tesla has driven over $2 trillion in the company’s market value since 2016.
Elon Musk
GM CEO Mary Barra says she told Biden to give Tesla and Musk EV credit
“He was crediting me, and I said, ‘Actually, I think a lot of that credit goes to Elon and Tesla…You know me, Andrew. I don’t want to take credit for things.”
General Motors CEO Mary Barra said in a new interview on Wednesday that she told President Joe Biden to credit Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk, for the widespread electric vehicle transition.
She said she told Biden this after the former President credited her and GM for leading EV efforts in the United States.
During an interview at the New York Times Dealbook Summit with Andrew Ross Sorkin, Barra said she told Biden that crediting her was essentially a mistake, and that Musk and Tesla should have been explicitly mentioned (via Business Insider):
“He was crediting me, and I said, ‘Actually, I think a lot of that credit goes to Elon and Tesla…You know me, Andrew. I don’t want to take credit for things.”
GM CEO Mary Barra said to Andrew Sorkin at the New York Times Dealbook Summit that she pulled President Biden aside and said Tesla CEO @elonmusk deserved the credit for EVs:
“He was crediting me, and I said, ‘Actually, I think a lot of that credit goes to Elon and Tesla,'” Barra… pic.twitter.com/OHBTG1QfbJ
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) December 3, 2025
Back in 2021, President Biden visited GM’s “Factory Zero” plant in Detroit, which was the centerpiece of the company’s massive transition to EVs. The former President went on to discuss the EV industry, and claimed that GM and Barra were the true leaders who caused the change:
“In the auto industry, Detroit is leading the world in electric vehicles. You know how critical it is? Mary, I remember talking to you way back in January about the need for America to lead in electric vehicles. I can remember your dramatic announcement that by 2035, GM would be 100% electric. You changed the whole story, Mary. You did, Mary. You electrified the entire automotive industry. I’m serious. You led, and it matters.”
People were baffled by the President’s decision to highlight GM and Barra, and not Tesla and Musk, who truly started the transition to EVs. GM, Ford, and many other companies only followed in the footsteps of Tesla after it started to take market share from them.
Elon Musk and Tesla try to save legacy automakers from Déjà vu
Musk would eventually go on to talk about Biden’s words later on:
“They have so much power over the White House that they can exclude Tesla from an EV Summit. And, in case the first thing, in case that wasn’t enough, then you have President Biden with Mary Barra at a subsequent event, congratulating Mary for having led the EV revolution.”
In Q4 2021, which was shortly after Biden’s comments, Tesla delivered 300,000 EVs. GM delivered just 26.
Tesla’s six-seat extended wheelbase Model Y L sold out for January 2026
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang commends Tesla’s Elon Musk for early belief
