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I haven't seen the debris but it could have been part of the trailer itself. Not that it makes it any better. Things should not be falling off of trucks. Just s
by ianstallings 13y ago
I haven't seen the debris but it could have been part of the trailer itself. Not that it makes it any better. Things should not be falling off of trucks. Just saying that it might have been a maintenance issue or some kind of freak accident.
That being said, If that part had punctured a gas tank of a petrol vehicle the damage could've been explosive or caused a fire also.
I like how they have calculated how this happened because that most likely means in the next revision they may improve the skid plate or the battery wall to protect it from such things. Or recall them and retrofit, if needed. They aren't being mysterious like I've seen from other auto manufacturers. But then again, not every company dives in $1B in worth after a car has an accident.
- rdl 13y agoI wonder if break-away would make sense.
- maxerickson 13y agoIn liquid form, gasoline isn't all that excited about exploding. Mythbusters did it: http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/mythbusters-database/shooting-gas-tank.htm http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/mythbusters-da...
- stcredzero 13y agoYes, but a car/truck/van will turn into a ferocious little bonfire given the right kind of damage, an ignition source, and time.
- maxerickson 13y agoSure, I was responding to the scary emphasized word.
- 001sky 13y agoIRL less than 2% of auto fires involve fuel lines/tanks etc. Your scenario tends to play out better for intentional fires, tho. So, yeah if you molotov cocktail a car it will ignite...but it does not do so under typical use hardly ever. source: the same one Musk quoted.
- ianstallings 13y agoYeah much like a lot of substances it's only explosive in vapor form. I was thinking the top part of a gas tank, some hypothetical, but not likely, scenario. It seems that the danger from both the Lithium battery and a gas tank are about the same. If the car catches fire it will be because of some freak accident. Although, there was the Pinto, which was just poor design: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZDVqhWGILA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZDVqhWGILA
- jack-r-abbit 13y agoMythbusters tested the "shoot a car's gas tank and make it explode" myth. A punctured gas tank may not explode... but it will leak. And a puddle of gas on the ground around the car can catch fire more easily. And then things get worse from there.
- paul_f 13y agoJust because it happens in movies or television doesn't make it real. Cars don't explode. Then there's this: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1993-03-23/features/1993082146_1_dateline-nbc-news-president-gm-pickup http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1993-03-23/features/1993082...
- ianstallings 13y agoCars can explode after a terrible impact, it's been recorded before. I don't think a gas tank puncture would cause it unless it was some how ventilated, the gas vaporized, and then ignited. But I know what you mean. You mean the hollywood explosion. That's not real life.
- sp332 13y agoCars don't generally explode. You need a mix of fuel and air to burn, so most of the gasoline in the tank can't burn at any given time.
- freehunter 13y agoI don't have numbers on how much force a typical skid plate can withstand without damage, but I would be willing to bet that 25 tons of force at a relatively small point of impact would be extremely hard to design around without some major drawbacks (weight and ride height, mostly). Considering this is such an uncommon experience. designing for such an edge case and accepting the drawbacks might not even be acceptable. It sounds more like they're congratulating themselves on designing the failure to be so easily contained.
- ianstallings 13y agoJesus! I misread and saw 25 pounds not 25 tons. Yeah, a skid plate would not protect from that I'd imagine.