A TikToker says she was “roasting like a fucking chicken” after getting stuck in her Tesla on a hot day while the car finished its software update.
The TikToker, whose pseudonym is Brianna Janel, said in a series of videos that she expected the software update to take 24 minutes, according to a message displayed on the vehicle’s internal screen – long enough so she could finish a work call while she waited for her Chick-fil-A order to be ready — but she was still locked inside by the time her call was finished.
“When your car is updated, you’re stuck in your car if you activate it while you’re here,” Janel said in her first video, which had received 18.3 million views at the time of publication. “So I did that and now I’m stuck in my car, literally sweating – like draining I’m sweating – and in my car it’s 103 degrees.
According to the Omni Calculator, on a 75-degree day, a car’s internal temperature can reach up to 115°F in just 40 minutes. In Orange County, where Janel said she was from, the temperature on the afternoon she posted the video reached a high of 76°F.
Tesla’s user manual warns owners that some safety features are disabled during software updates and warns not to open doors or windows while the update is installed, otherwise “you could damage the vehicle “.
The manual doesn’t specify what kind of damage might occur, but the Model 3 starts at $38,990 while a Model X starts at $79,990, giving owners a financial incentive not to take chances.
“I’m panicking a little, I hope I’m not running out of air. I can’t open the doors or windows otherwise I could potentially damage my car,” Janel continued in her viral video. “So yeah. I’ll be stuck in my car until further notice.”
Commenters on the video were split between blaming Janel for refusing to use the emergency manual unlock and blaming Tesla for what some described as a “huge safety issue.”
In a later video, Janel said she had owned her Tesla for about 6 years, but this was the first time she decided to update the car while it was inside. After 30 minutes, she decided to “wait” because she didn’t want to damage the vehicle, although she added that she would have opened it if she felt she was truly risking her health.
“I got out of my car – look, I’m sweating. I’m literally dripping with sweat; you can see it on my face,” she said in a video update about her ordeal. “I was stuck in my car while it updated for 40 minutes and the interior was 115 degrees. The air conditioning has never felt better and I have never felt better.”
Despite the incident, Janel said she still loves her Tesla and calls it a “good vehicle,” but she issued a warning to those who saw her video: “Don’t update it while you’re sitting in the car. Stick to the update”. at 2 a.m. like I used to do.”
Janel and Tesla representatives did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s requests for comment.
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