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Tesla Model S Plaid caught fire while driver was at the wheel, says fire chief

cnbc.com

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Re: Tesla Model S Plaid caught fire while driver was at the wheel, says fire chief

#31

Post by yellow_lead »

ogjunkyard wrote: post #20
stretchwithme wrote: post #5

I'm not sure I'd buy a car without a single mechanical interior door handle. Sure, there might be a mechanical backup to the electronic door handle. But will I remember to use it in an emergency?

With a lot of the decisions Tesla's been making lately, I'm not sure I'm going to buy another either. I'm mainly speaking of: - 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 hand…

The talk by Karpathy sheds some light on while they removed the radar. TLDW: Radar is inaccurate and buggy for a few seconds, then typically returns to normal. And the sensor fusion is difficult too. FWIW, I still think they're dangerous. I don't want my car to be "production." Engineers were SSHing into tons of cars to apply updates according to an insider thread a while back.

https://youtu.be/eOL_rCK59ZI

Re: Tesla Model S Plaid caught fire while driver was at the wheel, says fire chief

#32

Post by freeone3000 »

guhidalg wrote: post #8
ncallaway wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a downside to using the emergency handle? I'd generally prefer to use that as my standard way of getting out of the car. 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 press the button, the window rolls down slightly before the door latch is opened. This prevents you from putting stress on the window when you push the door to open it. 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…

The 2020 Dodge Challenger had the same problem due to a similar door design. They solved it by causing the mechanical action of the door open lever to also roll down the window slightly, and electronically rolled up the window when the door was closed.

Re: Tesla Model S Plaid caught fire while driver was at the wheel, says fire chief

#33

Post by Natsu »

vardump wrote: post #3

Better to wait for the official investigation. For whatever reason, speculation is pretty rampant whenever it comes to Tesla accidents.

> For whatever reason, speculation is pretty rampant whenever it comes to Tesla accidents.

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?

Re: Tesla Model S Plaid caught fire while driver was at the wheel, says fire chief

#34

Post by senectus1 »

cyberge99 wrote: post #29
s5300 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people don't know that the headrest (head restraint) can also be used to break a window in several ways. I'd known about this for a while, typically there's just a simple mechanical button you have to depress to remove the headrest to be able to use it in this fashion. 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 mec…

Additionally some of those headrest button aren’t easy to click and pull.

I once had a car that you couldn't take the head rest off without laying the back right down first...

Re: Tesla Model S Plaid caught fire while driver was at the wheel, says fire chief

#35

Post by toomuchtodo »

yellow_lead wrote: post #31
ogjunkyard wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With a lot of the decisions Tesla's been making lately, I'm not sure I'm going to buy another either. I'm mainly speaking of: - 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 hand…

The talk by Karpathy sheds some light on while they removed the radar. TLDW: Radar is inaccurate and buggy for a few seconds, then typically returns to normal. And the sensor fusion is difficult too. FWIW, I still think they're dangerous. I don't want my car to be "production." Engineers were SSHing into tons of cars to apply updates according to an insider thread a while back. https://youtu.be/eOL_rCK59ZI

New firmware update going out restores safety features with vision only. Consumer Reports made the 3 its top pick again due to this.

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.

Re: Tesla Model S Plaid caught fire while driver was at the wheel, says fire chief

#36

Post by stretchwithme »

pilingual wrote: post #12
stretchwithme wrote: post #5

I'm not sure I'd buy a car without a single mechanical interior door handle. Sure, there might be a mechanical backup to the electronic door handle. But will I remember to use it in an emergency?

This is a human factors oversight. The emergency handle and button to open the door should be combined. 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.

I completely agree.

Re: Tesla Model S Plaid caught fire while driver was at the wheel, says fire chief

#37

Post by fastball »

Natsu wrote: post #33
vardump wrote: post #3

Better to wait for the official investigation. For whatever reason, speculation is pretty rampant whenever it comes to Tesla accidents.

> For whatever reason, speculation is pretty rampant whenever it comes to Tesla accidents. 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?

I also don't know very many companies with a group of short-sellers so determined and coordinated that they've named themselves ("TSLAQ"), so makes sense they are also much more keen on ensuring every shred of negative press gets signal-boosted as much as possible.

Re: Tesla Model S Plaid caught fire while driver was at the wheel, says fire chief

#38

Post by stretchwithme »

ogjunkyard wrote: post #20
stretchwithme wrote: post #5

I'm not sure I'd buy a car without a single mechanical interior door handle. Sure, there might be a mechanical backup to the electronic door handle. But will I remember to use it in an emergency?

With a lot of the decisions Tesla's been making lately, I'm not sure I'm going to buy another either. I'm mainly speaking of: - 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 hand…

Radar based cruise control, like what my Toyota has, is pretty inaccurate. The shape of a vehicle affects how close the system estimates it to be. Its size too.

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.

Re: Tesla Model S Plaid caught fire while driver was at the wheel, says fire chief

#39

Post by nitrogen »

tyingq wrote: post #25
snypher wrote: post #2

>tried to unlock and open the doors but had to force his way out of the vehicle, as the locks seemed to malfunction. After he left the car, it began to move on its own If this is true it's not great news. I wonder, does the parking pawl engage at power-off?

I imagine a lot of bets are off with a fire going. Lots of wires burning and shorting, or otherwise not getting the power they need to do their job.

Many years ago I had a vehicle catch fire while I was driving it. The first indication was that the digital speedometer started showing random numbers for this very reason.

Re: Tesla Model S Plaid caught fire while driver was at the wheel, says fire chief

#40

Post by paxys »

Natsu wrote: post #33
vardump wrote: post #3

Better to wait for the official investigation. For whatever reason, speculation is pretty rampant whenever it comes to Tesla accidents.

> For whatever reason, speculation is pretty rampant whenever it comes to Tesla accidents. 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?

It's not a conspiracy. Tesla is among the most watched and followed companies in the world. A large number of people have huge positions on its stock, both long and short. Its CEO is one of the richest and possibly the most divisive businessman/celebrity in the world. All news related to it – both positive and negative – is greatly amplified.
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