Model X Crash on US-101 (Mountain View, CA)

[GatorGuy]

A hand-held fire extinguisher isn't likely to do anything of consequence to a Tesla battery pack fire.

Not looking to be able to put out a fully involved fire on its own, but anything to be able to help to get to a passenger.

Correct, needs to be Class C.

My current fire extinguishers in my cars are all Class C.

 

[mkspeedr]

That is a scary barrier. If auto pilot messed up - yikes. If he/she made a last minute lane change and misjudged the barrier - yikes.

I am surprised it does not happen more at that exchange.

 

[FlyF4]

A hand-held fire extinguisher isn't likely to do anything of consequence to a Tesla battery pack fire.

Amen to that. It would be like the old Ford Pinto. Remember that? BOOM, you're dead !!!!!!

 

[phaduman]

Fire may have been due to 12V battery/wiring, but would not rule out pack damage given high speed direct impact plus two other cars hitting it.

Check out this short video. Anoushah Rasta on Twitter, starting 26 seconds, you can see individual 18650 cells, and the battery compartment shell structure exposed. Main battery fire quite likely - from the information so far, the front divider/median was hit by the car and enough intrusion and force to break down the front section of the main battery compartment. Cannot see the front motor.

pic of barrier before crash (you can see the barrier's crumple zone/structure which is squeezed in the accident). Was it a head-on collision? It might be slightly offset as the left front wheel is right next to barrier where-as right front wheel is further off. Giving me reason to believe the car was making a turn away from 85-S ramp and back into 101-S (making a right turn). Not sure it was a delayed manual steering movement by driver, Or, AP doing some decisions based on lane marking. Prayers for the driver. Thanks to the transportation agency for providing those crumple zones in front of concrete barriers. May be in some other car, it could have been a fatality - let's hope Tesla's MX safety design helps save this driver's life - in the end matters the most to the driver at this point.

 

[MP3Mike]

It is an X, and I would say that the main battery pack was not involved in the fire as there isn't enough fire damage. And the fire damage appears to be confined to the interior. Maybe they were a smoker and a cigarette caused the fire? (It could have even caused the crash, I know someone that dropped a lit cigarette in their lap, and in trying to get it off of them they crashed the car into the side of a mountain.)

 

[mongo]

Check out this short video. Anoushah Rasta on Twitter, starting 26 seconds, you can see individual 18650 cells, and the battery compartment shell structure exposed. Main battery fire quite likely - from the information so far, the front divider/median was hit by the car and enough intrusion and force to break down the front section of the main battery compartment. Cannot see the front motor.

pic of barrier before crash (you can see the barrier's crumple zone/structure which is squeezed in the accident). Was it a head-on collision? It might be slightly offset as the left front wheel is right next to barrier where-as right front wheel is further off. Giving me reason to believe the car was making a turn away from 85-S ramp and back into 101-S (making a right turn). Not sure it was a delayed manual steering movement by driver, Or, AP doing some decisions based on lane marking. Prayers for the driver. Thanks to the transportation agency for providing those crumple zones in front of concrete barriers. May be in some other car, it could have been a fatality - let's hope Tesla's MX safety design helps save this driver's life - in the end matters the most to the driver at this point.


View attachment 288618

Great write up. I think part of the object on the left is the motor sub frame.

 

[MP3Mike]

Check out this short video. Anoushah Rasta on Twitter, starting 26 seconds, you can see individual 18650 cells, and the battery compartment shell structure exposed. Main battery fire quite likely - from the information so far, the front divider/median was hit by the car and enough intrusion and force to break down the front section of the main battery compartment. Cannot see the front motor.

OK, I hadn't seen that. And that does look like one module may have caught fire, and given the extensive damage to the car the fire could have gotten inside from that, but the fire doesn't appear to have spread to the other 13/15 modules.

 

[FlyF4]

It is an X, and I would say that the main battery pack was not involved in the fire as there isn't enough fire damage. And the fire damage appears to be confined to the interior. Maybe they were a smoker and a cigarette caused the fire? (It could have even caused the crash, I know someone that dropped a lit cigarette in their lap, and in trying to get it off of them they crashed the car into the side of a mountain.)

Mike, yup I tend to agree because of the sudden huge explosive fire that "USUALLY" occurs with a pack violation. Not saying to rule it out. I'd expect the car to be nothing but molten metal when that occurs. If part of the pack caused the fire, then someone up above is looking out for this driver and I will be really impressed that the design of the car prevented a massive fireball. Hey, I'm wrong at least once a day (so the wife tells me). I hope I am wrong here and it was a pack fire because that gives me some reassurance that I might be able to survive such a crash without them finding my skeleton in the car !

 

[McRat]

Amen to that. It would be like the old Ford Pinto. Remember that? BOOM, your dead !!!!!!

Actually that was excellent marketing by a skilled legal team's efforts.

Very few Pintos actually exploded, in fact a VW was more dangerous as a fire risk. 24" between your face and the tank and built like a cigar box.

Since Ford had documented the risk level, they were doomed. This meant they knew there was statistical probability of fire and treated it as such.

From Popular Mechanics (embedded in a PM Pinto-sucks article):

In the ensuing years, though, some doubt has been cast on the relative severity of the defect. Reports range from 27 to 180 deaths as a result of rear-impact-related fuel tank fires in the Pinto, but given the volume of more than 2.2 million vehicles sold, the death rate was not substantially different from that of vehicles by Ford's competitors.

The same was true for the Silverado saddle tank lawsuit, except the Silverado was actually lower than average for full sized pickups. But by the time Dateline blew one up on TV (paid for by the law firm) using pyrotechnic devices (Estes rocket engines), it was too late. Only after they found the hidden stash of Dateline trucks that they could not get to burn, was the truth researched on the actual risk.

Again, it was the automaker to blame because they knew and documented the risk of fire. If they didn't, there would be no case.

It's all about how you market it to the public. "Call 1-800-BAD-DRUG if you've had cancer and you have taken aspirin. It has been found that 98% of all cancer patients have taken aspirin. If you feel a bout of cancer coming on, call us and let OUR doctors prove you have cancer or will soon have it. Get your millions today!!" A spot on Oprah or CNN or PBS will guarantee big bucks. 90% for the legal team, 10% for the class.

 

[MP3Mike]

Mike, yup I tend to agree because of the sudden huge explosive fire that "USUALLY" occurs with a pack violation. Not saying to rule it out. I'd expect the car to be nothing but molten metal when that occurs. If part of the pack caused the fire, then someone up above is looking out for this driver and I will be really impressed that the design of the car prevented a massive fireball. Hey, I'm wrong at least once a day (so the wife tells me). I hope I am wrong here and it was a pack fire because that gives me some reassurance that I might be able to survive such a crash without them finding my skeleton in the car !

I think this picture pretty clearly shows us that part of the park was on fire:

Picture from: Jesse Gary on Twitter

I would say that the protections designed into the car, and pack, did what they were supposed to.

 

[mongo]

Yup, that pack is smashed and burned.

Edit: Better use of language.

 

[FlyF4]

It's all about how you market it to the public. "Call 1-800-BAD-DRUG if you've had cancer and you have taken aspirin. It has been found that 98% of all cancer patients have taken aspirin. If you feel a bout of cancer coming on, call us and let OUR doctors prove you have cancer or will soon have it. Get your millions today!!" A spot on Oprah or CNN or PBS will guarantee big bucks. 90% for the legal team, 10% for the class.

ha ha ha. You got that right. I couldn't have said it any better

 

[FlyF4]

I think this picture pretty clearly shows us that part of the park was on fire:

Picture from: Jesse Gary on Twitter

I would say that the protections designed into the car, and pack, did what they were supposed to.

OK, cool. Now I am wondering how in hell (literally) did the driver get out of that thing in time? I doubt the fire department got there in time to put it out and pull out the driver

 

[SMAlset]

The local Mountain View Patch has a drive by video from Kron4 of the scene. Since it's taken overhead on a roadway and they are traveling southbound think it must have been taken on the local 85 ramp (not the one from 101). If you slow down the video you can see the deformity of the barrier and the extent of the debris. The fire was already out at this point.

Fiery Tesla Crash Blocks Highway 101 In Mountain View

While I was watching the news this morning I did see footage of the car on fire, but not seeing anything online. There are several Mt. View fire departments right in that area so sure the call went out quickly, but I still fear for the driver's condition. This 85/101 area btw is just south past Shoreline Blvd exit off 101 that goes to the Tesla Mt. View Superchargers so if you've charged there you weren't too far away from the scene.

 

[MP3Mike]

OK, cool. Now I am wondering how in hell (literally) did the driver get out of that thing in time? I doubt the fire department got there in time to put it out and pull out the driver

I have to assume that the fire took long enough to start/spread that they were able to get out. And that their injuries after the head-on collision, and two rear endings, were "minor" enough that they were mobile.

From what I have seen it appears that, contrary to what Tesla has put in the first responder guides, the fire department refused to put water on it for fear of making it worse.

 

[McRat]

I wonder if the front tore off (it appears to be in the #2 lane) with the driver's and passenger seat.

 

[McRat]

Some idiot racing on PCH in a Ferrari Enzo hit a pole and tore the front seats out and survived almost without injury since the car broke in 2.

 

[FlyF4]

Some idiot racing on PCH in a Ferrari Enzo hit a pole and tore the front seats out and survived almost without injury since the car broke in 2.

Yes, I walked away from it without a scratch!

 

[mongo]

OK, cool. Now I am wondering how in hell (literally) did the driver get out of that thing in time? I doubt the fire department got there in time to put it out and pull out the driver

Indeed!
I think I see the front of the pack is curved instead of straight. If so, it was either push in by the impact or the car was compressed width wise. Either way, that visible module buckled looks like it buckled. It appears to be the top extra module from a non-60kWh pack. Is that area less protected due to being double stacked?

I wonder if the front tore off (it appears to be in the #2 lane) with the driver's and passenger seat.

I think those are the front seats in the picture, based on the front door structure. It looks weird without any of the dash structure.

 

[SMAlset]

Check out this short video. Anoushah Rasta on Twitter, starting 26 seconds, you can see individual 18650 cells, and the battery compartment shell structure exposed. Main battery fire quite likely - from the information so far, the front divider/median was hit by the car and enough intrusion and force to break down the front section of the main battery compartment. Cannot see the front motor.

pic of barrier before crash (you can see the barrier's crumple zone/structure which is squeezed in the accident). Was it a head-on collision? It might be slightly offset as the left front wheel is right next to barrier where-as right front wheel is further off. Giving me reason to believe the car was making a turn away from 85-S ramp and back into 101-S (making a right turn). Not sure it was a delayed manual steering movement by driver, Or, AP doing some decisions based on lane marking. Prayers for the driver. Thanks to the transportation agency for providing those crumple zones in front of concrete barriers. May be in some other car, it could have been a fatality - let's hope Tesla's MX safety design helps save this driver's life - in the end matters the most to the driver at this point.


View attachment 288618

Wow you can see the individual batteries in the twitter video. The fact that the car ended up on the right side of the barrier on 101 (with probably the left front wheel on 85) makes me think it impacted head on with the driver's front wheel section off to the side a bit for it to sent in the 85 direction. Torn apart or cut apart at the A-pillar area.