Shocking dashcam footage shows the terrifying moment a Tesla Model S Plaid driver hurtles down Germany’s unrestricted Autobahn at 286 km/h, only for a rear tire to explode, sending the £100,000-plus electric supercar into a violent skid and rollover.
The heart-stopping clip, filmed from inside the cabin, captures the speedometer climbing past 280, then 285, before locking on 286 km/h (nearly 178 mph) as the blue Plaid rockets along the A10 near Berlin. The driver grips the yoke, his face briefly visible in the rear-view mirror, as other traffic blurs past in the distance.
Seconds later a deafening bang erupts. The car lurches violently, the steering wheel jerks, and the cabin spins as the Tesla leaves its lane, barrels off the carriageway and tumbles. The footage cuts to the aftermath: the once-sleek saloon reduced to a crumpled wreck, bodywork torn open, high-voltage orange cables and underbody components strewn across the grass, and a shredded rear tyre lying nearby with large sections of tread missing.
The driver later claimed the failure involved a rear Goodyear Eagle F1 SuperSport 305/30ZR21. Those tyres, fitted alongside Michelin Pilot Sport 4S rubber at the front, carry a Y speed rating up to 300 km/h. A limited Goodyear recall issued in April 2026 covered roughly 69 tires in the relevant sizes due to a potential risk of tread separation identified in testing; the driver said he only discovered the recall after the crash. Investigators have not publicly confirmed that a manufacturing defect caused the blowout.
No other vehicles were involved. The passenger cell remained largely intact despite the high-speed rollover. The driver, reported in some accounts to be 52, was airlifted to hospital with multiple fractures and a leg injury but was not paralysed. He later wrote that he was recovering and expected the process to take several months.
The 2024 Model S Plaid, with around 19,000 km on the clock and more than 1,000 horsepower, was extensively damaged and is effectively a write-off. The incident has circulated widely online, highlighting both the extreme forces at Autobahn speeds and the narrow margin when a performance tyre fails close to its rated limit.
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