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It always pays to expect the unexpected when driving around. Of course, you can never really tell what’s going to happen at any given moment, like a car pulling out in front of you suddenly or perhaps some other freak occurrence. But in those important times, it’s always good to have a safe car, which is something that one couple recently learned while driving their Tesla Model 3 in England.

The Tesla Model 3 was crushed

The Tesla Model 3 on display at the LA Auto Show
The Tesla Model 3 on display at the LA Auto Show. | (Photo credit should read FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

According to a recent report from Teslarati, Neil Collins and his wife were driving their Model 3 around a turn when a large truck, carrying large pallets of concrete and traveling in the opposite direction, dropped some of its cargo onto the Tesla. From what we can see in the video, the truck was traveling too fast, which is likely what dislodged the concrete blocks.

What resulted was a crushed windshield, side windows, and most of the sheetmetal on the driver’s side of the car. Basically, the car is totaled. But the most important part is that its owners live to tell the tale. Collins recounted the brief and destructive occurrence with Teslarati:

“I could see the lorry appeared to have gone too quickly around the corner because it was really leaning over, so I thought, ‘Oh blimey, that doesn’t look very good.’ Then we came alongside and I could see the blocks sliding off.”

The Tesla was totaled, but the owners only had bruises

When watching the video, which taken was by the Model 3’s Teslacam video, you can see that the car ran straight into the falling load of blocks head-on. The blocks went through the windshield and on top of the car, which you would think would cause a lot of injury to the driver and passenger. But Collins was able to walk away with only minor cuts and bruises, reported Inside EVs. Collins also noted:

“Before I could react, within a split second, it had gone bang and glass was everywhere, and there was smoke. Next thing I knew, the emergency services were being called. The windscreen collapsed, but it pretty much held. It was quite amazing that we walked away.”

Some would think that’s it’s a downright miracle that the couple was able to leave the scene relatively unscathed, but this event also goes to show how well the Model 3 can hold up in a crash.

The Model 3 has really good safety ratings

Upon further research, we can see why the IIHS granted the 2021 Tesla Model 3 a highly-coveted “Top Safety Pick +” award. According to the agency’s testing, the Model 3 received a “good” score across the board, namely the roof strength and side-impact categories.

NHTSA also recently stated that the Tesla Model 3 has the “lowest probability of injury” in any vehicle that it has tested. That’s pretty high praise coming from an agency that tests the crashworthiness of thousands of different vehicles every year. But as we can see from the video above, and the story that came from it, there’s definitely a lot of good things to be said about the Model 3’s structural rigidity and overall safety.