I bring up the fire before they do and address it head on. I showed off the car to a friend yesterday and I was the one who mentioned the fire to her. I told her how well the car performed by venting the heat and flames to the forward frunk compartment. Then I opened the frunk to show here that was the safest place to have a car fire because it's an empty space and away from the cabin. She was thoroughly impressed.
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How To Handle Friends/Relatives Who Bring Up The Tesla Fire
- Thread starter jackbowers
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- Model S
Liz G
P03056
My wife brought this up to me yesterday as she had been with her Boeing engineer brother and techie brother-in-law, neither of which are very familiar with Tesla cars. They referenced the fire and how fire-prome Li-Ion batteries are, which of course got her attention. I showed her Elon's response and asked her if she seriously felt safer in a car full of gasoline. She's a smart lady and that conversation was over very quickly.
mknox
Well-Known Member
I had a coworker bring it up, but more as a joke than anything and we agreed that cars catch fire all the time, and there is nothing special here except for the media attention. I also had a guy walk up to me in a parking lot and ask what I thought of the fire (right out of the blue... no other comment on the car). I told him I'd read the analysis and it sounded like the car performed better than any ICE would have in the same situation. He said yeah, and cars catch fire all the time anyway. I think the expectation is that an ICE fire is almost expected because of all that gasoline, but it is kind of unexpected in a BEV.
SebastianR
Active Member
Alright, I think firstly, it's important to listen carefully where the guy commenting is coming from:
1) if it is a "novelty/popularity" thing (think 'your favorite sports team lost and the other guy is not supporting your team') then I would make a joke like "who would have guessed that the car doesn't fix itself if you hit it with a massive piece of metal" - and then move on to other amazing features of the car/different topic. Keep in mind: people like to gloat and people like to "push your buttons". So if you get defensive / start the whole explanation/discussion as soon as you are given the keyword, people might bring-up the topic, just to see your reaction. So relax, take a deep breath and laugh it off.
2) if it is a "safety" thing ("don't put the kids into this fire-trap") then I would start addressing the story with all kinds of safety stats. Watch out: these things tend to get emotional. So don't get lost in stats and numbers but explain it graphically and do comparisons on what else is dangerous etc.
Roughly I would follow these chain of arguments:
1) Everything is dangerous. The question is, what tradeoffs we are willing to make
2) The car itself was fine. It got into trouble due to an OUTSIDE impact - i.e. this won't go up in flames spontaneously (it's not a Dreamliner kind of incident)
3) After it got damaged the car warned its driver to pull over: Which other vehicle does that?
4) After it finally caught fire, the passenger compartment was kept in tact (and as an aside, the fire was contained etc.)
5) If all this doesn't work, start the process of "how should the car have behaved?" and then go through the different ways cars should ideally react to accidents
1) if it is a "novelty/popularity" thing (think 'your favorite sports team lost and the other guy is not supporting your team') then I would make a joke like "who would have guessed that the car doesn't fix itself if you hit it with a massive piece of metal" - and then move on to other amazing features of the car/different topic. Keep in mind: people like to gloat and people like to "push your buttons". So if you get defensive / start the whole explanation/discussion as soon as you are given the keyword, people might bring-up the topic, just to see your reaction. So relax, take a deep breath and laugh it off.
2) if it is a "safety" thing ("don't put the kids into this fire-trap") then I would start addressing the story with all kinds of safety stats. Watch out: these things tend to get emotional. So don't get lost in stats and numbers but explain it graphically and do comparisons on what else is dangerous etc.
Roughly I would follow these chain of arguments:
1) Everything is dangerous. The question is, what tradeoffs we are willing to make
2) The car itself was fine. It got into trouble due to an OUTSIDE impact - i.e. this won't go up in flames spontaneously (it's not a Dreamliner kind of incident)
3) After it got damaged the car warned its driver to pull over: Which other vehicle does that?
4) After it finally caught fire, the passenger compartment was kept in tact (and as an aside, the fire was contained etc.)
5) If all this doesn't work, start the process of "how should the car have behaved?" and then go through the different ways cars should ideally react to accidents
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I tell them two things:
1. "Did you know the car flashed an alert that said "pull over now" and "get out of the car" before it burst into flames after running over a big metal object? Cool, huh?"
2. "I've learned my lesson: I'm going to start keeping a bag of marshmallows in the frunk."
I'm serious about #2. I show people the frunk all the time and it's empty right now. Marshmallows are at least as funny as a hamster wheel.
1. "Did you know the car flashed an alert that said "pull over now" and "get out of the car" before it burst into flames after running over a big metal object? Cool, huh?"
2. "I've learned my lesson: I'm going to start keeping a bag of marshmallows in the frunk."
I'm serious about #2. I show people the frunk all the time and it's empty right now. Marshmallows are at least as funny as a hamster wheel.
At the two events I was at yesterday, three people brought up the fire. The first person's comment was how impressed he was that the way Elon handled it. At the second event, the second person had just heard that there was a fire and didn't have any opinion. The third commented about the safety of the Tesla (how it was better than other cars).
The first event was a C&C where people were expected to be interested in cars.
The second event was at a library with a more general population--many of the people going into the library weren't even aware that there was an event there today. I expected there to be some negative comments, especially among the general public, but there weren't any. I'd suggest that the majority of folks don't even know about it.
The first event was a C&C where people were expected to be interested in cars.
The second event was at a library with a more general population--many of the people going into the library weren't even aware that there was an event there today. I expected there to be some negative comments, especially among the general public, but there weren't any. I'd suggest that the majority of folks don't even know about it.
I was washing my car in my driveway this morning when my neighbor walked over and asked if I'd heard about the fire. I said yeah, then she laughed and said "I'm sure people aren't also talking about regular cars that catch fire every day". I hope she's representative of most people, they get it.
hockeythug
Active Member
Turning it around on them is the best thing to do.
Random person: Did you hear about the Tesla fire?
me: Yea, good thing they weren't in a gas powered car. Imagine how horrible that could have turned out if a chunk of metal punctured the gas tank.
It has been funny to watch their planned jokes deflate. Going on the defensive feeds their psyche that there is something wrong with the car.
Random person: Did you hear about the Tesla fire?
me: Yea, good thing they weren't in a gas powered car. Imagine how horrible that could have turned out if a chunk of metal punctured the gas tank.
It has been funny to watch their planned jokes deflate. Going on the defensive feeds their psyche that there is something wrong with the car.
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Yep, show them at Highway vehicle fires
and do the math for them 187,500 / 365 = ~513/day, in the US alone.
And, point out to them how many Model S have been sold so far (~20K?) and that this is the first fire we know of.
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