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Tesla Model S battery bursts into flames, car “totally destroyed” in 5 minutes

arstechnica.co.uk

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Re: Tesla Model S battery bursts into flames, car “totally destroyed” in 5 minutes

#11

Post by thomnottom »

aedron wrote: post #5
cperciva wrote: post #4

A few months ago someone was test-driving a BMW when it burst into flames a block away from my home. The driver narrowly escaped unharmed; unlike this Tesla incident, there was no warning provided by the vehicle. But I'm pretty sure none of you have read news articles about the BMW which burst into flames in Burnaby a few months ago, because non-electric cars bursting into flames is just something which happens. As l…

Funny, I was going to comment that I have never heard of a regular car spontaneously erupting into flames. Warning or no, that is a life-threatening situation. Imagine you had a couple of toddlers strapped in, somehow missed the warning notice, etc.

That's BMW for you. They manage to keep a lot of it out of the news. Many years ago the M class engines had a problem with cooling and would occasionally melt the car. Sometimes in the driveway. In the case of my boss at the time, as he was heading down the highway. Thankfully some other drivers noticed the flames shooting out and let him know so he was able to pull over to the side of the road and get out safely.

There were a few small articles at the time, but for the most part BMW just paid off the customers and went on their merry way.

Re: Tesla Model S battery bursts into flames, car “totally destroyed” in 5 minutes

#12

Post by brc »

aedron wrote: post #5
cperciva wrote: post #4

A few months ago someone was test-driving a BMW when it burst into flames a block away from my home. The driver narrowly escaped unharmed; unlike this Tesla incident, there was no warning provided by the vehicle. But I'm pretty sure none of you have read news articles about the BMW which burst into flames in Burnaby a few months ago, because non-electric cars bursting into flames is just something which happens. As l…

Funny, I was going to comment that I have never heard of a regular car spontaneously erupting into flames. Warning or no, that is a life-threatening situation. Imagine you had a couple of toddlers strapped in, somehow missed the warning notice, etc.

Seriously? Ferrari impromptu infernos is an Internet meme. Those things self immolate all the time. New ones too, not old ones with leaky hoses. Google it, it's a thing.

Re: Tesla Model S battery bursts into flames, car “totally destroyed” in 5 minutes

#14

Post by yardie »

aedron wrote: post #5
cperciva wrote: post #4

A few months ago someone was test-driving a BMW when it burst into flames a block away from my home. The driver narrowly escaped unharmed; unlike this Tesla incident, there was no warning provided by the vehicle. But I'm pretty sure none of you have read news articles about the BMW which burst into flames in Burnaby a few months ago, because non-electric cars bursting into flames is just something which happens. As l…

Funny, I was going to comment that I have never heard of a regular car spontaneously erupting into flames. Warning or no, that is a life-threatening situation. Imagine you had a couple of toddlers strapped in, somehow missed the warning notice, etc.

> I have never heard of a regular car spontaneously erupting into flames.

I just passed a car completely engulfed in flames on I-95, yesterday. I pass one every few weeks. It seems to happen more often in summer. Except for local traffic updates it's so common national news doesn't bother to pick it up unless there is a fatality.

Re: Tesla Model S battery bursts into flames, car “totally destroyed” in 5 minutes

#16

Post by brador »

Why not separate the driver compartment from the battery packs using a fireproof wall? Or surround the batteries in a fireproof "box" with a vent? Or add a gas based fire damping system like data centres use?

Battery bursting into flames, destroying the whole car and putting the driver and passengers at risk just seems so archaic.

Re: Tesla Model S battery bursts into flames, car “totally destroyed” in 5 minutes

#17

Post by MertsA »

aedron wrote: post #5
cperciva wrote: post #4

A few months ago someone was test-driving a BMW when it burst into flames a block away from my home. The driver narrowly escaped unharmed; unlike this Tesla incident, there was no warning provided by the vehicle. But I'm pretty sure none of you have read news articles about the BMW which burst into flames in Burnaby a few months ago, because non-electric cars bursting into flames is just something which happens. As l…

Funny, I was going to comment that I have never heard of a regular car spontaneously erupting into flames. Warning or no, that is a life-threatening situation. Imagine you had a couple of toddlers strapped in, somehow missed the warning notice, etc.

To add to other anecdotes, there was quite a few fires in new jeeps while parked and off.

http://jalopnik.com/why-jeeps-catch-on-fire-and-why-chrysler...

http://blog.caranddriver.com/jeep-recalls-164000-cherokees-f...

http://www.abcactionnews.com/money/consumer/taking-action-fo...

So far for Tesla, all fires have been determined to be caused by collision damage breaching the battery. I guess we'll see if this case was a manufacturing defect or road debris, but if it was caused by a manufacturing defect then this would be the first case of that for Tesla as far as I'm aware.

As a side note, Tesla claims to have put quite a bit of care into designing the floor pan and battery such that in cases like this, a fire shouldn't breach into the cabin for a while. In theory, even after the fire is well underway, the design of the car should give passengers plenty of time to get out.

Re: Tesla Model S battery bursts into flames, car “totally destroyed” in 5 minutes

#18

Post by holtalanm »

ClayM wrote: post #3

Credit to the Tesla guys for setting up the monitoring so well that it kept everybody alive.

Was gonna say that. Gas burners don't give any such warning.

When I was a kid, I remember seeing my neighbors truck going up in flames in mere SECONDS. They got in the truck, turned the key, and it didn't start. They felt the dashboard and it was hot. As soon as they got out, the whole truck went up in flames.

This was an older truck, but still, can't think of any vehicles nowadays besides a high-tech car giving a warning about impending immolation.

Re: Tesla Model S battery bursts into flames, car “totally destroyed” in 5 minutes

#19

Post by s_q_b »

aedron wrote: post #5
cperciva wrote: post #4

A few months ago someone was test-driving a BMW when it burst into flames a block away from my home. The driver narrowly escaped unharmed; unlike this Tesla incident, there was no warning provided by the vehicle. But I'm pretty sure none of you have read news articles about the BMW which burst into flames in Burnaby a few months ago, because non-electric cars bursting into flames is just something which happens. As l…

Funny, I was going to comment that I have never heard of a regular car spontaneously erupting into flames. Warning or no, that is a life-threatening situation. Imagine you had a couple of toddlers strapped in, somehow missed the warning notice, etc.

My grandfather's car burst into flames in downtown Manhattan.

Although, as with other rare but very bad events, humans are very bad at evaluating the relative risks. For example, you're far more likely to be killed driving a perfectly functional car at highway speed than in an automobile fire.

Re: Tesla Model S battery bursts into flames, car “totally destroyed” in 5 minutes

#20

Post by serg_chernata »

brador wrote: post #16

Why not separate the driver compartment from the battery packs using a fireproof wall? Or surround the batteries in a fireproof "box" with a vent? Or add a gas based fire damping system like data centres use? Battery bursting into flames, destroying the whole car and putting the driver and passengers at risk just seems so archaic.

I was pretty sure there is a ceramic barrier or something along those lines.
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