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Tesla Model S Catches Fire While in Motion – Not Caused by Crash

22 points by bspn 8y ago

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
taobility 8y ago
Elon Musk: this is definitely no the fault of autopilot.
TillE 8y ago
Wasn't a previous Tesla fire caused by a bit of metal debris on the road puncturing the batteries, a la the Concorde crash? That wouldn't be a crash per se, but neither is it spontaneous combustion. It's just the kind of not-too-unusual damage which should probably be better planned for.
- toomuchtodo 8y ago
  A trailer hitch, that was levered into the battery pack. Tesla mitigates that failure scenario (at least on the Model S) with a titanium shield across the entire battery pack, with a metal assembly near the front of the vehicle to break an object apart that exceeds the clearance of the undercarriage.
- greglindahl 8y ago
  Normally the car notifies the driver that there's a battery problem, and that they should pull over and exit the car.
chriselles 8y ago
This one is particularly painful for Tesla as the owner’s wife is a minor celebrity with major celebrity friends. Reputational damage risk in this case could be significantly magnified due to Chelsea Handler’s recent tweet to 8.8 million followers: “Everyone with an early model Tesla needs to be aware of this. I have one that I will not be driving again. @Tesla @elonmusk” Ouch!
noitsnot 8y ago
This isn't news. Do we need to blow every little thing happening to Tesla out of proportion? Not to mention, the inside cabin doesn't even look affected.
- woodandsteel 8y ago
  From what I have read, it looks like speculators who have shorted Tesla stock are going to loose a couple of billion dollars in the coming months, and so they have been seeding the press with negative stories and op-ed pieces to try to get the stock price down.
  - chriselles 8y ago
    I’m admittedly in the “2nd rat(meaning not Tesla) gets the cheese” camp. So I may be quite biased. But I think if THIS particular story that involves a celebrity with major reach(8.8 million social) is “seeded” then THAT would be a MAJOR story and SEC investigation and DOJ prosecution. I definitely get your point that Tesla shorts are biased heavily towards bad news stories.
URSpider94 8y ago
Gas cars catch fire out of the blue on occasion as well, In fact there were 152,000 car fires per year in the period 2006-2010. Only 4% of those were collision-related[1]. Not saying this shouldn’t be investigated, but nobody was injured, and this now makes ONE non-crash Tesla battery fire that I’m aware of. [1] https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/By-topic/Property-type-and-vehicles/Vehicles https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/By-topic/Property-type...
AngryData 8y ago
This isn't unexpected to happen occasionally, as long as it is rare. Nothing is failure proof and the failure mode for a big battery is many times fire. This is like reporting on somebodies car throwing a rod while on the road or another fire.

22 points by bspn 8y ago

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

taobility 8y ago

Elon Musk: this is definitely no the fault of autopilot.

TillE 8y ago

Wasn't a previous Tesla fire caused by a bit of metal debris on the road puncturing the batteries, a la the Concorde crash? That wouldn't be a crash per se, but neither is it spontaneous combustion. It's just the kind of not-too-unusual damage which should probably be better planned for.

toomuchtodo 8y ago
A trailer hitch, that was levered into the battery pack. Tesla mitigates that failure scenario (at least on the Model S) with a titanium shield across the entire battery pack, with a metal assembly near the front of the vehicle to break an object apart that exceeds the clearance of the undercarriage.
greglindahl 8y ago
Normally the car notifies the driver that there's a battery problem, and that they should pull over and exit the car.

chriselles 8y ago

This one is particularly painful for Tesla as the owner’s wife is a minor celebrity with major celebrity friends. Reputational damage risk in this case could be significantly magnified due to Chelsea Handler’s recent tweet to 8.8 million followers: “Everyone with an early model Tesla needs to be aware of this. I have one that I will not be driving again. @Tesla @elonmusk” Ouch!

noitsnot 8y ago

This isn't news. Do we need to blow every little thing happening to Tesla out of proportion? Not to mention, the inside cabin doesn't even look affected.

woodandsteel 8y ago
From what I have read, it looks like speculators who have shorted Tesla stock are going to loose a couple of billion dollars in the coming months, and so they have been seeding the press with negative stories and op-ed pieces to try to get the stock price down.
- chriselles 8y ago
  I’m admittedly in the “2nd rat(meaning not Tesla) gets the cheese” camp. So I may be quite biased. But I think if THIS particular story that involves a celebrity with major reach(8.8 million social) is “seeded” then THAT would be a MAJOR story and SEC investigation and DOJ prosecution. I definitely get your point that Tesla shorts are biased heavily towards bad news stories.

URSpider94 8y ago

Gas cars catch fire out of the blue on occasion as well, In fact there were 152,000 car fires per year in the period 2006-2010. Only 4% of those were collision-related[1]. Not saying this shouldn’t be investigated, but nobody was injured, and this now makes ONE non-crash Tesla battery fire that I’m aware of. [1] https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/By-topic/Property-type-and-vehicles/Vehicles https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/By-topic/Property-type...

AngryData 8y ago

This isn't unexpected to happen occasionally, as long as it is rare. Nothing is failure proof and the failure mode for a big battery is many times fire. This is like reporting on somebodies car throwing a rod while on the road or another fire.