7 ms·

Tesla owner breaks window to escape after car bursts into flames

30 points by Balgair 4y ago

BitwiseFool 4y ago
The media sure loves to cover stories about Teslas catching fire, don't they?
- coldtea 4y ago
  Yes, by now they should have been used to it. It's not like it's a rare occurence...
  - mwint 4y ago
    Statistically, it is indeed a rare occurrence. What they should be used to is gas cars self-immolating.
- gamblor956 4y ago
  Yes, but if Tesla wants to go around claiming their cars are so much safer than ICE cars, they'll just have to deal with all the media coverage of the many, many, many, many times that Teslas are less safe than other cars on the road. Live by the sword, die by the sword, and all that. You'll note that the Kia Niro EV gets minimal coverage (other than perfunctory reporting of recalls) because....wait for it...they don't claim it's safer or better than other cars, just electrified.
  - BitwiseFool 4y ago
    The real question is, are they objectively safer than ICEs by a numbers standpoint? There's a reporting bias because intputmag and other media outlets do not write stories about when other cars catch fire. Such coverage is skewing people's perceptions.
  - Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
    There have been about 135K Kia Niros sold in the 6 years they've been being produced. Meanwhile, Tesla is delivering 300K vehicles per quarter. Kia Niro EV gets minimal coverage because they're selling a minimal number of them.
    - gamblor956 4y ago
      You are comparing Tesla's worldwide sales across all models versus Kia's single-model sales in one country. For a proper comparison, Kia sells 200k vehicles/month (for 600k/quarter). And is considered one of the smaller major automakers. Kias don't get covered in the news because cheap, reliable cars that don't have issues aren't newsworthy. They're the standard. Teslas are in the news all the time because they're expensive pieces of crap that have constant issues from the moment they roll of the assembly line.
- malermeister 4y ago
  Teslas sure love catching fire, don't they?
  - BitwiseFool 4y ago
    Compared to other ICE cars? When a ford fiesta catches fire no one writes an article about it.
    - metadat 4y ago
      Electro-chemical fires (lithium batteries) are a whole different beast compared to common fires with ICE vehicles. The lithium battery fires basically cannot be extinguished, and it's a tremendous amount of energy.
      - Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
        Yes, but the GP comment: > Teslas sure love catching fire, don't they? implies a higher quantity of fires, which is just FUD.
        metadat 4y ago
        I'm not sure about the numbers, but I've seen multiple Tesla fires IRL, and never seen an ICE vehicle spontaneously begin smoking and catch fire in front of me. Ymmv.
        frumper 4y ago
        Ford just told 39k owners of Expeditions and Navigators to park outside because of engine fires. 12 of the 16 reported fires happened while the cars were turned off. https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2022/05/19/ford-suv-recall-engine-fire-risk/9835262002/ https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2022/05/19/ford-...
        mwint 4y ago
        I’ve seen multiple gas car fires IRL, and never seen a Tesla vehicle spontaneously begin smoking and catch fire. I guess our anecdata cancels out.
- PascLeRasc 4y ago
  The fire wasn't the main safety issue of the story.
josephcsible 4y ago
Teslas do have an emergency door release, though, and it's exactly where you'd expect it to be (to the point that most first-time passengers think it's how you're supposed to open the door all the time).
- cma 4y ago
  Looks kind of hidden, just from the styling of it: https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/attachments/smartselect_20191224-132903_adobe-acrobat-jpg.492495/ https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/attachments/smartselect_2019...
  - devonbleak 4y ago
    Anecdotally this is the first method I found to open the door when I got mine but it did take several seconds - time I would probably not like to spend if my car was on fire with me in it. Then the car made a noise and displayed a warning about damaging the windows or something if I kept doing that and to push the button instead so I've done that ever since. While I remembered the physical lever existed, I forgot where it actually was until this post so I would likely be spending that time to figure it out again and probably just panic and break the window like the person in the original article did.
    - tapoxi 4y ago
      Seems unnecessarily confusing. Whats the advantage of the electric door?
      - devonbleak 4y ago
        It orchestrates lowering the window slightly to avoid damaging the weather stripping or something according to the warning message.
        jiveturkey 4y ago
        Nonsense! Coupes (cars where the window glass is "free" at the top, without a window frame) have, for ages, ticked the window down a bit when you open the door, and only when the door is completely closed does the window go up to the fully closed position. This is to facilitate opening and closing, not to protect the weatherstripping. In modern cars (last decade at least) the cabin is air tight enough that closing the door fast/hard enough to get both "halves" of the double latch secure meets air pressure resistance that makes this "hard". By lowering the window a smidge, the force required from inside to pull the door shut is reduced. This feature is fully achievable with the same sensor that detects whether the [mechanically controlled] door is open or not, and whether you are pulling on the interior latch. For sedans (cars where the window glass is fully framed in the door), the design of the weather stripping doesn't require this window behavior. You can probably visualize why that is. In a coupe, the window glass has to seal quite tightly against the roofline, with a very limited profile and no supporting structure. That may be the stated reason, but like retracting door handles, it's an aesthetic decision.
gamblor956 4y ago
On a somewhat related note, I was stuck behind a Tesla on my morning commute and it was behaving like a teenage driver; constantly breaking without reason and dangerously slowing to a halt as soon as any vehicle got into the lane in front of it. When I passed it later, the driver didn't have his hands on the wheel, and the car was (very poorly) driving itself in AP or FSD. I've seen Teslas drive somewhat better than that before, so it appears their latest update in response to last week's fatal crash has some serious regressions.
- mlindner 4y ago
  Just as a note, I drive my completely manual honda in stop and go traffic without my hands on the wheel pretty regularly. You only need to make minor adjustments occasionally if your wheels are properly aligned.
- buffington 4y ago
  > it appears their latest update in response to last week's fatal crash has some serious regressions. I wouldn't be comfortable making that assertion, given you don't know if the car you describe was using FSD, let alone FSD of a specific version.
  - gamblor956 4y ago
    It doesn't matter whether they were using FSD or AP. The point is that the Tesla was self-driving like a drunk teenager on the freeway, and this is a noticeable regression from the behavior of other self-driving Teslas I'm forced to share the road with.
    - martin8412 4y ago
      Tesla should be banned from enabling FSD until they can prove to the relevant authorities that it's safe. Have the CEO survive riding with FSD without a manual override for a year and maybe we can let them drive on regular streets.
herpderperator 4y ago
Interesting that the lane change indicators continue blinking throughout the entire ordeal, both during the fire and after being flooded with water.
warning26 4y ago
I drove a Model Y a few weeks ago and I found the "press a button to open the door" to be both an egregious safety violation and terrible UX. What do you possibly get by having the door release be a button instead of a handle? It archives nothing but making it extremely nonintuitive to leave the vehicle if the electronic release stops functioning. Having a mostly-hidden emergency release is practically worthless in an emergency scenario, since in such an event you can't count on users hunting for and operating a new control that they've never used before.
gorkish 4y ago
Teslas all have mechanical door releases, but aside from the front seat doors in Model S and Model X they all require knowledge of their location and use. The design in Model S and X are that a light pull of the door handle triggers the electronic latch, but pulling it fully will engage the mechanical release also. I think this design is excellent, but I personally believe that every other mechanism Tesla has used is dangerous, especially for backseat passengers who are more likely not to know the unusual location and operation of the emergency releases. When I took delivery of my car many years ago, one of the back door latches hadn't been connected at the factory, so luckily I learned all about this on day 1 of ownership.

30 points by Balgair 4y ago

BitwiseFool 4y ago

The media sure loves to cover stories about Teslas catching fire, don't they?

coldtea 4y ago
Yes, by now they should have been used to it. It's not like it's a rare occurence...
- mwint 4y ago
  Statistically, it is indeed a rare occurrence. What they should be used to is gas cars self-immolating.
gamblor956 4y ago
Yes, but if Tesla wants to go around claiming their cars are so much safer than ICE cars, they'll just have to deal with all the media coverage of the many, many, many, many times that Teslas are less safe than other cars on the road. Live by the sword, die by the sword, and all that. You'll note that the Kia Niro EV gets minimal coverage (other than perfunctory reporting of recalls) because....wait for it...they don't claim it's safer or better than other cars, just electrified.
- BitwiseFool 4y ago
  The real question is, are they objectively safer than ICEs by a numbers standpoint? There's a reporting bias because intputmag and other media outlets do not write stories about when other cars catch fire. Such coverage is skewing people's perceptions.
- Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
  There have been about 135K Kia Niros sold in the 6 years they've been being produced. Meanwhile, Tesla is delivering 300K vehicles per quarter. Kia Niro EV gets minimal coverage because they're selling a minimal number of them.
  - gamblor956 4y ago
    You are comparing Tesla's worldwide sales across all models versus Kia's single-model sales in one country. For a proper comparison, Kia sells 200k vehicles/month (for 600k/quarter). And is considered one of the smaller major automakers. Kias don't get covered in the news because cheap, reliable cars that don't have issues aren't newsworthy. They're the standard. Teslas are in the news all the time because they're expensive pieces of crap that have constant issues from the moment they roll of the assembly line.
malermeister 4y ago
Teslas sure love catching fire, don't they?
- BitwiseFool 4y ago
  Compared to other ICE cars? When a ford fiesta catches fire no one writes an article about it.
  - metadat 4y ago
    Electro-chemical fires (lithium batteries) are a whole different beast compared to common fires with ICE vehicles. The lithium battery fires basically cannot be extinguished, and it's a tremendous amount of energy.
    - Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
      Yes, but the GP comment: > Teslas sure love catching fire, don't they? implies a higher quantity of fires, which is just FUD.
      - metadat 4y ago
        I'm not sure about the numbers, but I've seen multiple Tesla fires IRL, and never seen an ICE vehicle spontaneously begin smoking and catch fire in front of me. Ymmv.
        frumper 4y ago
        Ford just told 39k owners of Expeditions and Navigators to park outside because of engine fires. 12 of the 16 reported fires happened while the cars were turned off. https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2022/05/19/ford-suv-recall-engine-fire-risk/9835262002/ https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2022/05/19/ford-...
        mwint 4y ago
        I’ve seen multiple gas car fires IRL, and never seen a Tesla vehicle spontaneously begin smoking and catch fire. I guess our anecdata cancels out.
PascLeRasc 4y ago
The fire wasn't the main safety issue of the story.

josephcsible 4y ago

Teslas do have an emergency door release, though, and it's exactly where you'd expect it to be (to the point that most first-time passengers think it's how you're supposed to open the door all the time).

cma 4y ago
Looks kind of hidden, just from the styling of it: https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/attachments/smartselect_20191224-132903_adobe-acrobat-jpg.492495/ https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/attachments/smartselect_2019...
- devonbleak 4y ago
  Anecdotally this is the first method I found to open the door when I got mine but it did take several seconds - time I would probably not like to spend if my car was on fire with me in it. Then the car made a noise and displayed a warning about damaging the windows or something if I kept doing that and to push the button instead so I've done that ever since. While I remembered the physical lever existed, I forgot where it actually was until this post so I would likely be spending that time to figure it out again and probably just panic and break the window like the person in the original article did.
  - tapoxi 4y ago
    Seems unnecessarily confusing. Whats the advantage of the electric door?
    - devonbleak 4y ago
      It orchestrates lowering the window slightly to avoid damaging the weather stripping or something according to the warning message.
      - jiveturkey 4y ago
        Nonsense! Coupes (cars where the window glass is "free" at the top, without a window frame) have, for ages, ticked the window down a bit when you open the door, and only when the door is completely closed does the window go up to the fully closed position. This is to facilitate opening and closing, not to protect the weatherstripping. In modern cars (last decade at least) the cabin is air tight enough that closing the door fast/hard enough to get both "halves" of the double latch secure meets air pressure resistance that makes this "hard". By lowering the window a smidge, the force required from inside to pull the door shut is reduced. This feature is fully achievable with the same sensor that detects whether the [mechanically controlled] door is open or not, and whether you are pulling on the interior latch. For sedans (cars where the window glass is fully framed in the door), the design of the weather stripping doesn't require this window behavior. You can probably visualize why that is. In a coupe, the window glass has to seal quite tightly against the roofline, with a very limited profile and no supporting structure. That may be the stated reason, but like retracting door handles, it's an aesthetic decision.

gamblor956 4y ago

On a somewhat related note, I was stuck behind a Tesla on my morning commute and it was behaving like a teenage driver; constantly breaking without reason and dangerously slowing to a halt as soon as any vehicle got into the lane in front of it. When I passed it later, the driver didn't have his hands on the wheel, and the car was (very poorly) driving itself in AP or FSD. I've seen Teslas drive somewhat better than that before, so it appears their latest update in response to last week's fatal crash has some serious regressions.

mlindner 4y ago
Just as a note, I drive my completely manual honda in stop and go traffic without my hands on the wheel pretty regularly. You only need to make minor adjustments occasionally if your wheels are properly aligned.
buffington 4y ago
> it appears their latest update in response to last week's fatal crash has some serious regressions. I wouldn't be comfortable making that assertion, given you don't know if the car you describe was using FSD, let alone FSD of a specific version.
- gamblor956 4y ago
  It doesn't matter whether they were using FSD or AP. The point is that the Tesla was self-driving like a drunk teenager on the freeway, and this is a noticeable regression from the behavior of other self-driving Teslas I'm forced to share the road with.
  - martin8412 4y ago
    Tesla should be banned from enabling FSD until they can prove to the relevant authorities that it's safe. Have the CEO survive riding with FSD without a manual override for a year and maybe we can let them drive on regular streets.

herpderperator 4y ago

Interesting that the lane change indicators continue blinking throughout the entire ordeal, both during the fire and after being flooded with water.

warning26 4y ago

I drove a Model Y a few weeks ago and I found the "press a button to open the door" to be both an egregious safety violation and terrible UX. What do you possibly get by having the door release be a button instead of a handle? It archives nothing but making it extremely nonintuitive to leave the vehicle if the electronic release stops functioning. Having a mostly-hidden emergency release is practically worthless in an emergency scenario, since in such an event you can't count on users hunting for and operating a new control that they've never used before.

gorkish 4y ago

Teslas all have mechanical door releases, but aside from the front seat doors in Model S and Model X they all require knowledge of their location and use. The design in Model S and X are that a light pull of the door handle triggers the electronic latch, but pulling it fully will engage the mechanical release also. I think this design is excellent, but I personally believe that every other mechanism Tesla has used is dangerous, especially for backseat passengers who are more likely not to know the unusual location and operation of the emergency releases. When I took delivery of my car many years ago, one of the back door latches hadn't been connected at the factory, so luckily I learned all about this on day 1 of ownership.