One guy had enough. Tuomas Katainen’s 2013 Tesla Model S was fine for about the first 100 miles, but then a series of water leaks and error codes forced the owner to have it towed to the shop for repairs.
The repair shop told Katainen, who lives in Finland, that the repairs would cost about $22,000 and that Tesla would need to authorize the repairs.
But there was a problem.
Katainen had made some modifications to the car and Tesla it seems was none too pleased about that. Since $22,000 coming out of his pocket would be quite a burden on Katainen, he decided to do a different route. He contacted some of his favorite YouTubers, and after removing the lithium-ion battery, motors, and other expensive components, the crew hauled the chassis out to an old quarry on the outskirts of Jaala, a remote village about two hours from Helsinki.
The demolition experts from the YouTube channel Pommijätkät (Bomb Dudes) strapped 66 pounds of high explosives to the car and surrounded the area with slow-motion cameras. As the setup was finishing a helicopter swooped in and dropped a mannequin with the face of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, which they strapped into the driver’s seat of the doomed sedan.
The resulting explosion, which of course happened after everyone had moved to a safe distance, left nothing more than a smudge in the snow caught in dramatic fashion by a drone overflight.
For the record, the standard warranty on a Model S covers eight years or 150,000 miles but may be voided if the “battery is opened or serviced by anyone not authorized by Tesla”. The warranty does not cover “damage resulting from intentional actions,” like blowing the car up for a YouTube video.
Greg has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.