Another Tesla fire in a garage, this time in Toronto

[purplewalt]

It says something about people, specifically and generally, when they automatically attach nefarious intent and actions to others, just as it says something about people, specifically and generally, when they automatically think the best of others or give the benefit of the doubt until facts emerge. Others being individuals, groups, organizations, companies etc... What a fascinating look inside the minds of people this thread has been. :wink:

On the specific topic of combustion at this residence; smart precaution to have a working smoke detector in the garage.

If only the FULL facts were presented in a timely manner (within a reasonable amount of time of the event) by an acknowledged reliable NEWS resource, perhaps some of the hypothesis would not be necessary.
Generally speaking, people on this board tend to be very bright, insightful and resourceful, and any untruths or partial truths tend to get the worst of it in the end.


I do think the REPORTING of the event is suspect (as well as the source), along with the timing of its release and some of the attributed quotes.
Personally I would need a lot more FULL set of data/facts to better understand what ACTUALLY occurred.

Taking your advice: Off to Home Depot for a fire detector in the garage.

 

[roblab]

Maybe you don't care cause you already own one. I was considering ordering in a few months. This makes me concerned. Potential fire risk in your house is a serious problem. You can create a smokescreen all you want but it is a serious concern for purchasers and owners and the company if true. My wife will never go for the car if this turns out to be that the car started the fire.

So sad. Especially when gas car fires happen all the time, and she's OK with that. Fear of the unknown, Uncertainty, and Doubt.

And, really, a smoke alarm which causes all units to alarm if any one detects smoke, is a good idea even if you don't own a car. Put one in the garage.

My response has gotten to be,

"You still driving that Tesla?"

"Yeah! Love it!"

"You think it'll burn?"

"Well, probably not, but if it does, I'm ready! You know Tesla will replace any car that burns due to electrical fires. Wait til you see the new car I have picked out. I have not heard that any of the gas car makers will replace your car if they burn. And there's a gas car fire every 90 seconds."

 

[Krugerrand]

If only the FULL facts were presented in a timely manner (within a reasonable amount of time of the event) by an acknowledged reliable NEWS resource, perhaps some of the hypothesis would not be necessary.

Yes, well, they (full facts) weren't/aren't presented in what some will view (but not all) in a timely manner, yadda, yadda, yadda. So shall we channel our inner Stephen King and make it up as we go along. (Not that Stephen King doesn't put a lot of thought into his fiction - just want to clarify that and point out I was being metaphorical (and sarcastic), not factual.)

Generally speaking, people on this board tend to be very bright, insightful and resourceful, and any untruths or partial truths tend to get the worst of it in the end.

I do think the REPORTING of the event is suspect (as well as the source), along with the timing of its release and some of the attributed quotes.
Personally I would need a lot more FULL set of data/facts to better understand what ACTUALLY occurred.

I don't disagree.

Taking your advice: Off to Home Depot for a fire detector in the garage.

While you're there, grab a fire extinguisher, too, if you don't have one for the garage. Oh, and a beer fridge is also nice to have. :wink:

 

[eepic]

So sad. Especially when gas car fires happen all the time, and she's OK with that. Fear of the unknown, Uncertainty, and Doubt.

And, really, a smoke alarm which causes all units to alarm if any one detects smoke, is a good idea even if you don't own a car. Put one in the garage.

My response has gotten to be,

"You still driving that Tesla?"

"Yeah! Love it!"

"You think it'll burn?"

"Well, probably not, but if it does, I'm ready! You know Tesla will replace any car that burns due to electrical fires. Wait til you see the new car I have picked out. I have not heard that any of the gas car makers will replace your car if they burn. And there's a gas car fire every 90 seconds."

Interesting observation, last time around there were hundreds of users browsing the fire-related thread on TMC the morning after, with plenty of "guests" trying to find the scoop. This time it seems fairly muted, currently 16 members, 44 guests... it's good the public isn't as obsessively oversensitive about any mention of Tesla and fire.

 

[purplewalt]

While you're there, grab a fire extinguisher, too, if you don't have one for the garage. Oh, and a beer fridge is also nice to have. :wink:

Got it: Fire extinguisher! Check!

 

[AmpedRealtor]

The story has been picked up by the SF Chronicle...

Another Tesla Caught On Fire While Sitting In A Toronto Garage This Month - SFGate

 

[Canuck]

Maybe you don't care cause you already own one. I was considering ordering in a few months. This makes me concerned. Potential fire risk in your house is a serious problem. You can create a smokescreen all you want but it is a serious concern for purchasers and owners and the company if true. My wife will never go for the car if this turns out to be that the car started the fire.

Having a wood burning stove in your home is far more dangerous when it comes to fires. I put one in at our cabin. It provides great heat and ambiance. My wife loves it.

I'm sure looking forward to getting my Tesla in a few weeks. This doesn't faze me one bit. But the smoke detector in the garage is a good idea. Gotta go get one.

 

[JRP3]

The "5x the energy" sound bite has always bugged me, because isn't that comparing the energy in gasoline to the electrical energy stored in the battery? That isn't the relevant metric, is it? What's the volume of flammable electrolyte in the battery, and what's the energy potential in that? That's what's going to burn in a fire, not the electric potential stored inside.

Or maybe I am misunderstanding the comparison that's been made.

You are correct. It's really the potential combustion energy of all flammable materials in the pack, which is more than the electrical energy, though I suspect still less than the potential of gasoline.

 

[Alexander]

If it is true that Tesla offered to pay for the damages, then Tesla is absolutely admitting fault. A company doesn't offer to pay for something unless it's their fault, not even Tesla.

"An offer to pay is not an admission of guilt, it is simply an offer to pay"

We have a Traffic Judge in the family, and he told me once that "an offer to pay is not an admission of guilt, it is simply an offer to pay." At the time my uncle was involved in an accident, and when my uncle offered to pay (even though it wasn't his fault) the other party started screaming to the officer "he offered to pay! see, see! he's guilty!" They turned my uncles offer down, and later ended up having to pay for all the damages because the officer and the insurance companies found them to be at fault.

 

[SteveG3]

"An offer to pay is not an admission of guilt, it is simply an offer to pay"

We have a Traffic Judge in the family, and he told me once that "an offer to pay is not an admission of guilt, it is simply an offer to pay." At the time my uncle was involved in an accident, and when my uncle offered to pay (even though it wasn't his fault) the other party started screaming to the officer "he offered to pay! see, see! he's guilty!" They turned my uncles offer down, and later ended up having to pay for all the damages because the officer and the insurance companies found them to be at fault.

indeed. while we don't know the facts about the offer to pay (reported without a source never confirmed by Tesla)... if there was an offer to pay (with a condition not to reach out to the media) it may have been a practical attempt to avoid the current news cycle we are now experiencing. that is from a pragmatist point of view, a couple hundred thousand dollars is a better use of company resources than drain on management and staff time with this incident being picked up by the media. practical, even though a case can be made for saying, ~ "we've done nothing wrong, if someone wants to go to the media, so be it."

that said, as others have noted, it's very encouraging to see that the public at large doesn't seem to having nearly the reaction that we saw after the 3 fires in the fall.

 

[NigelM]

....that said, as others have noted, it's very encouraging to see that the public at large doesn't seem to having nearly the reaction that we saw after the 3 fires in the fall.

Indeed. The impact on the stock was negligible this morning and we seem to be back at yesterday's trading levels (albeit with low volume). Wouldn't surprise me if the stock closes above $200 for the first time ever.

 

[Doug_G]

Fortunately the news media has a short attention span. "Yet another car fire, whatever, story has been done to death."

 

[TSLA Siempre]

it's great that both the public and the TSLA market are starting to fatigue of this issue. i suppose tesla had to go through something like this as it was inevitable given probabilities and potential saboteurs rooting for tesla's failure. if tesla emerges from this process not mortally wounded, then it only strengthens their position going forward (presuming it's not a legitimate problem). the public can only pay attention to non-stories for so long.

 

[jandkw]

With all 5 fires, this one concerns me. The car parked in the garage and not charging but set on fire by itself?? It can happen to some of us owners here. The Toronto owner refused Tesla staff's help? Very strange. Tesla needs to figure out the source.

 

[Canuck]

"An offer to pay is not an admission of guilt, it is simply an offer to pay"

Yes, even an outright admission of guilt is not determinative of negligence because that offends the ultimate issue rule - which is that the trier of fact (i.e. the judge) determines fault. However, an admission of guilt is one factor that can be taken into account by the trier of fact. The same applies to an apology at common-law although most jurisdictions have an "Apology Act" that does not allow a trier of fact to consider an apology at all, such as this one from BC:

Effect of apology on liability

2 (1) An apology made by or on behalf of a person in connection with any matter
(a) does not constitute an express or implied admission of fault or liability by the person in connection with that matter,
(b) does not constitute an acknowledgment of liability in relation to that matter for the purposes of section 24 of the Limitation Act,
(c) does not, despite any wording to the contrary in any contract of insurance and despite any other enactment, void, impair or otherwise affect any insurance coverage that is available, or that would, but for the apology, be available, to the person in connection with that matter, and
(d) must not be taken into account in any determination of fault or liability in connection with that matter.
(2) Despite any other enactment, evidence of an apology made by or on behalf of a person in connection with any matter is not admissible in any court as evidence of the fault or liability of the person in connection with that matter.
Apology Act

This makes sense since we want a civil society where people apologize even when they have done no wrong without it being used against them.

 

[Stoneymonster]

With all 5 fires, this one concerns me. The car parked in the garage and not charging but set on fire by itself?? It can happen to some of us owners here. The Toronto owner refused Tesla staff's help? Very strange. Tesla needs to figure out the source.

We don't even know that the car was involved. Let's wait for facts.

 

[efusco]

With all 5 fires, this one concerns me. The car parked in the garage and not charging but set on fire by itself?? It can happen to some of us owners here. The Toronto owner refused Tesla staff's help? Very strange. Tesla needs to figure out the source.

And with all 5 this probably concerns me the least...no evidence of any major component as either 1)the cause, or 2)damaged. Maybe this was a loose 12v wire, maybe he had gasoline in the frunk, maybe it was something in the wall that caught fire and fell onto the car.

 

[justaddsun]

Meh. Big ****** deal. I honestly don't care anymore and I'm guessing I'm not alone. I'm sick of all the uproar every time anything happens with a Tesla. It's complete BS. At some point all this "crying Wolfe" is simply going to make any real fire less newsworthy, so in a way I'm glad these bogus reports continue to happen. Anyone who is still uneducated enough to think that Tesla's are a bigger fire risk than a Gasoline car doesn't deserve to own the stock or the car. The ironic part is that the stock has never gone down because anyone was actually scared, it went down because everyone thought it would go down so they sold. It's a pathetic joke that I've become very bored with.

Well put, I feel the same way.

 

[Lloyd]

Another speculation, but we may find that some will have substandard wiring, loose connections, etc. that will get hot when stressed to their maximum rating. I talked with an owner last summer that had a 14-50 plug installed by a licensed electrician. In a junction box, they insufficiently tightened several wire nuts and they got hot, and failed, potentially starting a fire in his attic.

 

[Discoducky]

We don't even know that the car was involved. Let's wait for facts.

Also, the official statement does not state Teslas intention to pay for damages. I'm sure Elon will add color on Wednesday or prior to ensure earnings and the incident are separate..