M3P may have caused vertigo in friend.

[Taxvictim]

When I got my new Model 3 Performance, I picked up my best friend as my first passenger, driving straight to his house from the dealership. He is about 60 years old.

We had a blast driving the car and punching it from the line several times. The acceleration was stronger than any car we had ever driven.

About five days later, he got very dizzy and fell down. It happened again a few days after that. His wife took him to urgent care, who recommended a hospital. They were worried it might be a stroke.

The diagnosis was vertigo, which is not very serious. Some crystals had worked their way into his inner ear, and that affects your balance and your perception of acceleration. They gave him meds and a series of movements to do called the Epley maneuver, which is supposed to roll the crystals back out of your cochlea. He seems totally fine now.

He had no history of vertigo in his life... until he rode in a Model 3 Performance! He thinks the two things are not related, but I think it's likely they are.

 

[emmz0r]

How can it be related? It creates < 1G of force during acceleration. It's more likely that he got it from something else. It can happen at random, or as side effects of other medication. Could just as well be a side effect from the covid vaccine since I've read people report that after.

 

[Silicon Desert]

Hmmmm, well, no, I'm not seeing the correlation.

 

[UncertainTimes]

there are anecdotal reports of roller coasters causing and treating benign positional vertigo. So yes it could be related. The fact the Epley maneuver cured him is very telling.

 

[Ecoli]

Take him for another "spin"...for science

 

[Shelburne]

I doubt the car caused his vertigo if it didn't show up until 5 days later. Motion induced vertigo is virtually instantaneous. As Ecoli says, take him for another spin, and if his vertigo comes back right away, then he can blame it on your Tesla - but only then

 

[UncertainTimes]

Fine don’t listen to me, the pretend internet doctor.

 

[ecarfan]

He had no history of vertigo in his life... until he rode in a Model 3 Performance! He thinks the two things are not related, but I think it's likely they are.

There is no way to know if there is a correlation. One anecdotal report is not evidence of anything.

 

[blue1234]

Wanted to add 1 more data point. I had my first ride in a Tesla model 3 last week. I am prone to motion sickness and felt mildly queasy for the rest of the day (manageable though). The next day I too had an episode of unexplained vertigo (room spinning, nausea and a lot of vomiting). I was taken to hospital and the doctor suggested either BPPV or labyrinthitis — gave me some meds and I started to feel better. Dr thought the former was more likely than the latter as there were no symptoms of any kind of recent or ongoing infection. It could of course be total coincidence, but I find the parallels with this story quite something.

 

[comanchepilot]

How can it be related? It creates < 1G of force during acceleration. It's more likely that he got it from something else. It can happen at random, or as side effects of other medication. Could just as well be a side effect from the covid vaccine since I've read people report that after.

maybe somebody is looking for personal injury class action . . . . its too fast, it made me sick!

 

[The Other Dan]

In get vertigo frequently. Sometimes it's crystals, sometimes it's not. Ive bbeen diagnosed with Vestibular Migraines. I can wakeup in the morning and the room is spinning. No alcohol involved. So Im very analytical when it happens.
I've even had it happen after shooting my 50bmg. The dizziness happened 2 days later. Happened like clockwork 3 separate times.

I get motion sickness too. I can drive a car and not get sick, but as a passenger, in the same car on the same road/track, I'll get nauseous.

Never had it happen when driving the Model 3 though.

 

[Sanderpman12]

Drive him again to fix it

 

[Apprunner]

To fix it, gotta rent a Plaid and go plaid...

 

[murty1]

Will definitely agree that the M3P caused vertigo in me, bought mine in late 2021 and started suffering dizzy spells but was not sure Why I was getting them, this continued for a year and a half until I sold the car, still had mild symptoms a short time after but were manageable, I just got bought car back as sold it to a friend and boom the vertigo is back same as before, it’s strange because I did not think the two were linked at the time but know now definitely that it’s the car. Obviously I like to test the car more often than I should but I guess the smile you get when you take off is worth the dizzyness. I’m sure that I have some underlying inner ear problem that the car has triggered so not saying this will affect the masses but in my case definitely did.

 

[MikeRTX]

I'll definitely agree the M3P caused me vertigo while driving it and a dizzy-ish headache for hours afterwards. It was my first time driving a Tesla, and it convinced me I didn't need a Perf model.

BTW, I also got sick at an Audi driving event where a professional driver gave "thrill rides" to the attendees. I had to tell him to back off or I'd puke all over his car. Yeah, I have a tendency to motion sickness.

 

[fholbert]

This is my 52nd year of being a pilot, that isn’t vertigo.

Every pilot has experienced vertigo while in the clouds, maybe at night with no horizon. Cause and effect is a big part of advanced pilot training. I’ve never had it last more than a couple of minutes.

 

[terranx]

This is my 52nd year of being a pilot, that isn’t vertigo.

Every pilot has experienced vertigo while in the clouds, maybe at night with no horizon. Cause and effect is a big part of advanced pilot training. I’ve never had it last more than a couple of minutes.

Vertigo can manifest in a lot of ways. And vertigo can in fact be a manifestation of stroke, hence why he as a 60M with acute onset symptoms was sent to the ER for a rule out.

Whether or not this guy’s episode was related to the hard acceleration a few days prior, who knows. My suspicion would be it set him up for a cannalith to be dislodged, but can’t say definitively. But Epley maneuver helping is reassuring that it was peripheral (ie bppv) rather than central (ie posterior stroke)

Edit: But should go without saying I'm not this guy's doctor, didn't physically examine him, etc. Anyone else experiencing similar symptoms should still get evaluated at the ER