In a viral spectacle blending thrill-seeking bravado with high-tech engineering, internet personality Danny Duncan has once again captured global attention for launching a Tesla over a cliff. While the dramatic stunt was not a surprise, the fact that the airbags deployed when the Tesla was still airborne has astonished viewers, engineers, and car fans.
Being filmed for Duncan’s action-packed style, this moment showed Tesla’s safety features working under odd and completely unexpected circumstances.
Airbags in Mid-Air: How Did It Happen?
Airbags are usually set to deploy when a strong collision from an object like another car, a pole, or a wall happens. Still, Tesla thought a crash was going to happen with this much impact on the windshield sensors.
As soon as the vehicle fell from the cliff, the deployment was started, but it had not touched the ground yet. This proves that the combination of Tesla’s sensors and programmed software interpreted the increase in both vertical pull and movement as if it were a crash.
The car likely sensed the sudden change in gravity and lack of ground contact, which caused the airbag systems to turn on. It demonstrates how a Tesla handles real-life events that are difficult to predict.
Even though safety organizations did not officially embrace it, the accidental release turned the situation into a surprising and real-life ‘crash test’. It discussed the fact that today’s well-equipped vehicles start safety features by sensing the crash, not only because of the accident’s severity.
In Tesla cars, AI and quick sensor fusion make use of input from accelerometers, gyroscopes, GPS, and the onboard cameras. For this cliff jump, that fusion might have caused the driver to think they couldn’t avoid a crash, even before the car hit anything.
The outcome? The Airbags inflated during the flight, expanding in space to try to shield everyone from an upcoming rough landing.
No Flames, No Explosions—Just Engineering
In addition to airbags, what was also surprising was that the Tesla did not burst into flames following the accident. For the first time in such a Tesla crash, Duncan’s vehicle stayed structurally sound after landing. Since the car was wrecked, it did not catch fire, which always feared about EVs being prone to burning.
A series of images taken from different angles and displayed at slow motion proved that the battery case was severely damaged, yet there was no sign of a flare-up at the beginning. It’s a gentle reminder of how far electronic vehicle safety tech has come.
Shock and Applause from Viewers and Experts
Comments across YouTube and social media were a mix of surprise and excitement.
“The fact that it knew it was in danger before it even hit anything is both terrifying and impressive,” one user wrote.
Automotive safety analysts were equally surprised.
“This isn’t something any automaker tests for—but it does show the car’s crash detection algorithms are aggressive and highly sensitive,” said Dr. Lena Matthews, a vehicle systems researcher. “It’s not just brute force that triggers an airbag anymore. These are machines trying to predict physics in real time.”
Conclusion
Even though pulling such a stunt is not suggested, Danny Duncan’s act accidentally led to one of the strangest examples of car engineering in recent years. This also made people ask if self-driving cars can properly handle unusual, difficult challenges.
