It was an ordinary drive along Interstate 277 in North Carolina for James Hanna as he set out to pick up his son from school. But the routine trip soon turned into a harrowing ordeal that has left Hanna questioning the safety and reliability of his Tesla Model 3.

As Hanna cruised along the highway, his electric vehicle suddenly started emitting warning beeps. Mere seconds later, the Model 3 lurched to a complete stop in the middle of the busy interstate, leaving Hanna stranded and exposed to the flow of high-speed traffic. Despite the vehicle showing a 60% charge, Hanna was unable to restore power or steer the car to safety.

“It just stopped…shut down completely,” Hanna recounted to WSOC TV, the local Charlotte news outlet. “I didn’t even have time to figure out what was happening before I was stopped in the middle of the interstate.”

Fortunately, Hanna was able to exit his immobilized Tesla and find a safe spot to call for assistance. A tow truck soon arrived to transport the vehicle to a Tesla service center. However, as Hanna prepared to bid farewell to his Model 3, he encountered another troubling issue: the car’s battery had died, rendering him unable to regain entry.

When Hanna’s vehicle was eventually inspected by technicians at the service center, a representative revealed that Tesla had “reviewed vehicle logs” and “found several controllers reported the right body controller missing, which led to insufficient power being supplied to vehicle contactors, ultimately shutting down.” While Tesla’s warranty covered the tow and repairs, Hanna’s inquiries about preventing similar incidents in the future were met with an unsatisfactory response.

“The guy just told me it was bad luck,” Hanna told Business Insider, expressing his frustration with Tesla’s lackluster explanation. “I can’t risk my son’s life on that.”

A dangerous failure with unanswered questions

For any vehicle, the fundamental responsibility is to safely transport passengers from one point to another. A car that ceases operation without warning is a clear cause for concern. But a vehicle that stops abruptly in the middle of a busy highway presents an entirely different level of risk.

“I had a panic attack,” Hanna admitted, recounting his fear of a rear-end collision as his car sat stranded in the flow of traffic.

Dissatisfied with Tesla’s response to the incident, Hanna submitted a formal complaint to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), an organization well-acquainted with Tesla’s numerous safety-related issues. The NHTSA has investigated several Tesla crashes and failures, including the company’s first-ever Autopilot-related fatality in 2016. More recently, the agency has probed concerns ranging from loose steering wheels and unreliable seat belts to the risks posed by Tesla’s Full Self-Driving technology, sudden power steering lockups, and even the potential for drivers to play video games while their vehicles are in motion.

As 2023 drew to a close, the NHTSA mandated that Tesla implement an over-the-air software update aimed at reining in the capabilities of its self-driving features in an effort to prevent further accidents.

Tesla has not issued an official statement regarding Hanna’s harrowing experience. However, the incident has prompted Hanna to discontinue driving his Model 3, opting instead to lease the vehicle to other drivers.

As the demand for electric vehicles continues to surge, Hanna’s ordeal raises critical questions about the reliability and safety standards of these cutting-edge automobiles. While the promise of environmentally friendly and technologically advanced transportation is tantalizing, incidents like Hanna’s serve as a stark reminder that the industry must prioritize the security and well-being of drivers and passengers above all else.

This story was originally published on January 30, 2024, at 11:00 am ET.