Tesla has rolled out a software feature that overrides the lockout preventing a car from shifting into Drive while connected to a Supercharger. It's US-only, requires holding the brake and confirming a warning, and Tesla says it will damage both the vehicle and the charger. The feature arrives two months after a deadly shooting at a Twin Falls, Idaho Supercharger station.
Tesla has shipped a new software feature called "Emergency Drive Away" that lets drivers shift into Drive and leave a Supercharger stall without unplugging first. Tesla's charging team announced it on X on October 1, and it's rolling out now as part of software update 2026.38.3, US Superchargers only.
Previously, a Tesla simply wouldn't shift out of Park while a charge cable was connected — the driver had to unlock the charge port from the touchscreen, the app, or the handle button, then wait for the latch to release before driving off. Emergency Drive Away removes that lockout. If a driver shifts into Drive while still plugged in, an "Emergency Drive Away" warning appears on the center screen; holding the brake pedal and tapping "Activate" overrides the lockout and lets the car pull away with the cable still connected.
Tesla has been explicit that this isn't a clean disconnect. "Driving with the cable connected will cause damage to your vehicle and the Supercharger," the company wrote in its announcement, warning that the feature is intended for emergencies only and that "deliberate misuse will invoke additional penalties" — without specifying what those penalties are. Reported repair costs for the resulting equipment damage can reportedly run as high as $25,000 depending on the Supercharger stall affected.
Tesla didn't reference it directly in its announcement, but the timing follows a shooting at a Supercharger station in Twin Falls, Idaho on August 1, 2026, in which three people were killed and seven injured outside an adjacent In-N-Out restaurant. In the aftermath, EV owners and outlets covering the industry — including this site — discussed the lack of a quick, built-in way to drive away from a Supercharger stall without first unlocking the charge port, and pointed to EVject, a third-party breakaway charging adapter Tesla had previously sued over safety concerns.
The bottom line: Emergency Drive Away is a real, if blunt, response to a gap that became impossible to ignore after Twin Falls — Tesla removed a software lockout rather than engineering a clean release mechanism, and it's upfront that doing so comes at a real cost to the car and the charger. It's better than being stuck, but it's a stopgap, not a redesign, and for now it only protects drivers charging in the US.
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