The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a Tesla Model S fire that occurred in West Hollywood, California, last week.
While Tesla vehicles have been in the news lately for a series of fires for the Model S and Model X vehicles, this time the fire was a bit unusual: it was spontaneous. Previous vehicles caught on fire after being involved in an accident.
The Model S is owned by film director Michael Morris and his wife, actress Mary McCormack, managed to film the vehicle going up in flames, and tweeted it to Tesla.
“@Tesla. This is what happened to my husband and his car today. No accident, out of the blue, in traffic on Santa Monica Blvd. Thank you to the kind couple who flagged him down and told him to pull over. And thank god my three little girls weren’t in the car with him.”
(Tesla slashing up to 9% of its workforce. Click Here for the story.)
There were no injuries related to the fire.
Tesla officials, which are usually quick to defend their vehicles took a different tack this time, calling the incident “an extraordinarily unusual occurrence” and said it’s also investigating the incident.
(Despite concerns, safety probes, Musk promises “full self-driving” Autopilot by August. Click Here for more.)
The NTSB said the event and subsequent investigation will provide them an opportunity to learn more about fires and electric vehicles. Tesla vehicles have been involved in at least three fires in the last four months; however, each was involved in some type of collision.
Is it just an “out of the blue” incident or an organized effort by anti-tesla group or some disgruntled employee(s)?
No reason to believe this is anything but a technical issue with the vehicle. Whether it was a one-off problem or a signal that there are more serious issues is unclear.
Paul E.