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

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].<p>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.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nfpa.org&#x2F;Public-Education&#x2F;By-topic&#x2F;Property-type-and-vehicles&#x2F;Vehicles" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nfpa.org&#x2F;Public-Education&#x2F;By-topic&#x2F;Property-type...</a>

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

Wasn&#x27;t a previous Tesla fire caused by a bit of metal debris on the road puncturing the batteries, a la the Concorde crash?<p>That wouldn&#x27;t be a <i>crash</i> per se, but neither is it spontaneous combustion. It&#x27;s just the kind of not-too-unusual damage which should probably be better planned for.

This isn&#x27;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.

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

This isn&#x27;t news. Do we need to blow every little thing happening to Tesla out of proportion? Not to mention, the inside cabin doesn&#x27;t even look affected.