Tesla Model S Plaid caught fire while driver was at the wheel, says fire chief
cnbc.com
cnbc.com
Sure, there might be a mechanical backup to the electronic door handle. But will I remember to use it in an emergency?
In the event of an emergency I'd rather have muscle memory for the emergency exit, rather than have to do something unusual.
When you use the handle, the door latch opens and the window rolls down slightly and there’s a larger period of time where you can push the door and put stress on the window. So the danger with using the handle is that you _might_ damage the windows if you aggressively open the door, but the button will not.
When you put pressure on the button the door opens electronically. Putting a lot of pressure -- as when panicking -- should result in the mechanical lever unlatching the door.
Seriously.
Then, for ergonomic reasons, I went to change the headrest orientation one day (I know this is stupid) - and, it turned out, in addition to a mechanical push button to remove, I also had to shove a tiny ass pin punch deep into a hole in a really weird place to fully remove the headrest. This was in a Lincoln, and I'd never seen something as stupid as it in any other car. So much for the idea in the back of my head Id've been able to rely on it if I'd ever needed to break a window.
Even more of a reason to just buy the purpose made breaker/cutter, never know what unconventional BS some brands/models may be doing.
edit: sorry, speaking in general - Tesla's dont/sports cars tend to not have detachable headrests. Or maybe most newer cars don't in general, haven't looked into it much.
I also encountered the pin-required-for-removal in an old Rav4.
I was within seconds of cutting them out with my pocket knife the second time it happened.
I’m going to buy a cutter right now.
- The butterfly steering wheel. - The removal of radar for Autopilot (I'd like to have multiple systems for this, not just cameras/vision). - The removal of steering column stalks (and using the sensors to figure out which direction you want to go). - The door open mechanism changing from handles to whatever this button situation is.
I'm sure there will be other stuff, but yeah, may have to cancel my reservation for the Cybertruck.
https://www.consumerreports.org/car-safety/tesla-model-3-reg... (Tesla Model 3 Regains CR Top Pick Status and IIHS Safety Award; New IIHS testing shows that Tesla’s new camera-based system provides effective automatic emergency braking)
> The Tesla Model 3 has regained its status as a Consumer Reports Top Pick after independent tests proved the effectiveness of its new camera-based automatic emergency braking (AEB) and forward collision warning (FCW) systems.
> Earlier today, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released the first evaluations of new Tesla vehicles that use a camera-based system for AEB and FCW. Because of their performance, the Model 3 will once again get a Top Safety Pick+ designation, which is the IIHS’ highest safety award.
> “Given the IIHS’ recent evaluations of Tesla’s new camera-based system on its Model 3 and consistent with CR’s integration of IIHS ratings into our recommendations, CR is restoring the car’s Top Pick status,” says Jake Fisher, senior director of CR’s Auto Test Center.
Maybe that's just one badly implemented system. But my eyes don't judge a vehicle's distance differently because of its size or shape. Usually :-)
If you have two different systems for judging distance, you still need to decide which one is correct. Maybe if there were three, it would be more reliable.
Every doorhandle on the car had a thin zip-tie looped under it because the "present" mechanisms no longer functioned. One had to tug the zip tie to manually force the handle out of its flush position before being able to grasp it.
Quality.
The poor guy was stuck in the summer desert heat, waiting for a tow with a flat in a ~5000lb luxury sedan too heavy to limp 10 miles to the tire shop without destroying its alloy wheel, that apparently can't manage to carry a spare.
I'm pro-EV, but it felt like Teslas are a disaster as I left him in my tiny 90s miata that manages to fit a spare in the trunk, has previously limped that exact route on a flat without destroying its own alloy wheel (~2400lbs), and has perfectly functioning doorhandles still after 320k miles.
https://www.bridgestonetire.com/tread-and-trend/drivers-ed/r...
Something like this: https://www.homedepot.ca/product/dynamic-tools-automatic-cen...
It should get through the tempered glass at the doors.
You can also get an automobile specific glass hammer with seat belt cutter.
But yeah, complete lack of mechanical door release is insane.
Quote: "That’s five fires for every billion miles traveled, compared to 55 fires per billion miles traveled in gasoline cars."
So why don't I want to own an electric car? Because my assumption is that the typical electric car fire happens while it is being charged, whereas the typical gas-powered car fire happens while it is being driven.
There's a huge difference between a fire that potentially destroys my home, quite possibly starts while I'm asleep, and a fire that just totals my car. And that holds even more for people who live in multi-family buildings.
This particular incident didn't happen at night while the car was being charged. But is that representative?
An anecdote is a data point, but it's only one, and I've got my own.
I have seen a car on fire by the side of the road, and I've also owned a car with a history of recalls for issues with the fuel injection that caused fires for some owners. I've also heard of (read about) people who had fires that started under the hood while driving.
Another point is that while sometimes old cars have messed up wiring either because of design issues or amateurs messing with it, on the whole, I'm more confident it's still working as designed than my home, especially when I'm driving something in the 0-10 year range.
My home will be used indefinitely, and I don't know for sure what people may have done to the wiring over several decades before I lived in it. But I've seen some stuff.
Gas cars have electrical systems that cause them to catch fire. There are loads of news stories about gas cars catching fire in private garages. It isn't clear they are less risky in this regard than an EV.
The stat of fires per miles driven isn't saying that fires only happen while driving it is just a way of comparing the relative prevalence adjusted for the fleet size and usage.
The thing that sticks in my mind is that Ford had some issues with their charging cable and had a big recall to substitute one with a (presumable 50 cent) thermistor.
I guess there is a very general sense in which I associate electric cars with electronics where the tiniest software or hardware error can be catastrophic, whereas I expect that the scope of problems is easier to limit in a conventional vehicle. Like, gas powered cars rely heavily on electronics, but if a specific sensor or something goes out, they tend to have a "limp home" mode, and mechanical failures are planned for in the worst case.
I observe that shipping a lithium ion battery is a big deal, considered hazardous. They have brought down aircraft in the past. So I would tend to discount people saying that they are only an issue in a collision, just because without particular numbers, I see people worrying about spontaneous combustion. Due to manufacturing defects, I guess.
EV charging systems are pretty robust and fail-safed.
Further, they never talk about the odds of Teslas burning from a minor collision, which a much higher than for ICE.
That, and we seem to hear about every single Tesla that gets into an accident in detail, whereas with other cars there's just a brief blurb during the news about how another 10 car pile-up blocked the freeway for an hour.
So I wonder at this point which PR firm is making sure that every single Tesla accident makes the news?
If this is true it's not great news. I wonder, does the parking pawl engage at power-off?
Mechanical linkages are going to survive the heat of a fire quite a bit longer than wires and electronics.
1. The shuttlecraft giant screen in the middle is a distraction crash waiting to happen, and it's very difficult for older people to use.
2. Safety, simple, mechanical > clever over-engineering.
3. Why aren't regulators reviewing and approving firmware updates? For example, if Tesla management decides to brick all cars or an engineer is bribed to hack a particular Tesla to crash.
4. Why are moving vehicles being "live patched" over SSH? This seems insane like "I don't always test my code, but when I do so, I do it in production."
I’m pretty sure this is the first article on the first report of a Tesla issue where an attorney is giving statements that I recall seeing.
Not to diminish the seriousness of the issue but certainly seems likely they’re going to go for all they can against Tesla. I just wonder what the other side of the story will be.
Note, not a Tesla owner, mixed on fandom, but I do have Tesla Solar on my roof.
What if the person is afraid Elon is going to call them a pedo(or similar)?
It really sounds like you are, though.