3 ms·

Whereas Teslas are only vulnerable along the entire underside of the car. And don't require an ignition source.

• jacquesm 13y ago
  Note that the fire was contained and that it did not enter the car interior. Containing a gasoline fire after it has had a second or two to run is very hard if not impossible.
  • abalone 13y ago
    That's Tesla's PR spin. You'd probably be in pretty bad shape from the heat if you were trapped in that car. The guy taking the video remarked he could feel it just by driving by. A key question here is how easy it is to start a fire from a relatively minor and common incident such as hitting road debris. Sure, it's possible in gas cars, and gas fires burn quickly. But if it's a lot more common in cars with giant vulnerability zones along their entire undersides where shrapnel can start fires through physical damage without even an ignition source... All I'm saying is this is definitely something we need to monitor closely, not just dismiss offhandedly or spin with clever PR like "the fire didn't enter the cabin (but still could have killed you)".
  • 001sky 13y ago
    The battery pack is directly under the passenger seat, and this is typically a non-structural compnent, of very thin sheet metal. One would not want to be riding shotgun.