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

[mongo]

If you want to see footage of the handling of the batteries, watch the video labeled "RAW: CHP works with Tesla Engineer". Not sure if it's exactly the same as I saw on KTVU. And at the very beginning of the clip for a few seconds you'll notice how far that barrier collapsed. You can clearly see it the battery label as 100kWh, 400VDC btw in the footage, but you guys already knew that. Does the Model S 100D also have a similar battery arrangement?

Tesla Driver Injured In Fiery Crash On Hwy 101 Dies



So apart from eyewitness accounts from other drivers is that all we'll know about what happened?

Yep, the 100 packs are the same.

Based on barrier compression, I wonder if they had a medical emergency while driving which resulted in pressing the accelerator through the impact.

 

[verygreen]

So apart from eyewitness accounts from other drivers is that all we'll know about what happened?

If the Tesla had a dashcam that did not burn down (and Tesla dashcams are somewhat common) - that footage should be fine. Also other people in traffic might have had dashcams too (it's getting increasingly common).

But absent that - yes, we'll just gets some handwavy stuff from Tesla about how the driver pressed the accelerator and turned the steering wheel before impact and possibly the Mazda driver account of what they saw unfolded before them (assuming they were payign attention the whole time)

 

[dailo]

I've driven this road several times with AP2 and hasn't been a problem. Both merging onto 85 and continuing onto 101. I am always extra cautious when passing sections of the road like this, but haven't had to dis-engage so far.

Has anyone driven using AP2 in this stretch of the road ? Since the road has clear lane striping, I would be surprised if this was an AP related accident. And since this is a well traveled route by other Tesla’s, I am assuming someone else would have pointed this out earlier

 

[T3SLA_S]

I wonder if the front blew apart when it hit the barrier or if the firefighters used equipment to extract the driver.

They typically will only cut the posts (A, B or C) or door hinges to remove driver/passenger(s). Plus these vehicles are not common place with them and I'm sure have been instructed to stay away from the floors (battery compartments).

 

[SMAlset]

Just watched the video over on KRON's site ( Crash involving Tesla on Hwy 101 in Mountain View ) you might want to view. Long and short of it, the car hit the median, flipped over landing upright and caught on fire (must have gone airborne at that rate of speed and hitting a more or less solid object). The driver was in his early 30s. Witnesses rushed and pulled him out (not mentioned if car was on fire at that point or not, wonderfully brave people nonetheless). As you probably know by now he died at the hospital.

The battery was still charged to 70% as the engineers determined and needed to be weakened before removal of the car. 5 hours after the car crash it was deemed safe. BTW one of the ABCTV videographers, Dean Smith, said that while the techs were there there were some small explosions from within the car. Dean C. Smith on Twitter

 

[K-MTG]

Any idea if the passengers in the Tesla are okay?

 

[SMAlset]

No other passengers just the driver, in his early 30s, who died at the hospital. The drivers of the other cars didn't need medical attention.

 

[lemketron]

My wife said that someone at her company posted the following: "I pulled the guy out of that car this morning while it was on fire. He was unconscious, but breathing. He had internal bleeding, probably because of crushed ribs from the seatbelt."

So sad, as we now know he didn't make it. Our condolences to his family.

 

[robski]

Long and short of it, the car hit the median, flipped over landing upright and caught on fire (must have gone airborne at that rate of speed and hitting a more or less solid object).

Flipped and landed upright? Damn...need a physicist to explain how fast and hard one must hit for a 5,500lbs car to do that.

But these cars grind through this route (me included) day in / day out and are very familiar with roads. Unless he's a visitor who happened to be driving during commute hours, I'd have to believe he knew the roads. Something ain't right.

+1 for the witnesses who helped him out out the car.

 

[TEG]

That can be a confusing part of the freeway... The lane peeling off to the left is transferring from the 101 freeway to the 85 freeway. It is unusual to find that kind of interchange on that part of the 101 freeway. For instance, if you go a bit further, the only exits to 237 are on the right side.

I think some people are in the left lane of 101, and suddenly realize "hey this is taking me off the freeway I want to be on" and make a last minute decision to merge back to the right.

If you had autopilot engaged and it was staying in that left lane and taking you off of the 101, what happens if you press the right blinker to say you want to go back to the right? What do you think the autopilot would do in that case?
#1: Stay in the left lane and exit the freeway because it sees those solid white lines and refuses to go right there?
#2: Change lanes into that "not a lane" part where this accident happened?
#3: Change across that dangerous median and over into (what was) the next lane over back onto the 101 ?

 

[TEG]

This shows an overhead view of how that 2nd carpool lane (left most) starts to peel off to the left in a Y with that "non-lane" forming to become the new left shoulder for the 101 ahead:

I think you can see that it already has a solid white line to the right edge for quite a while suggesting that you are meant to stay in that lane now, and not get out. Someone could have asked for lane change way back, and perhaps it was not complying due to the white line? Eventually they decide "car wont do it, so I will" and yank the wheel to the right, but perhaps too late? Just speculating what might have happened.

You may also see some uneven coloration in the lane there. This freeway was expanded and there are different colors / textures of asphalt / cement around there which might make it harder for a camera to figure out what are the lane markings.

 

[TEG]

Another view:

 

[FlyF4]

That can be a confusing part of the freeway... The lane peeling off to the left is transferring from the 101 freeway to the 85 freeway. It is unusual to find that kind of interchange on that part of the 101 freeway. For instance, if you go a bit further, the only exits to 237 are on the right side.

I think some people are in the left lane of 101, and suddenly realize "hey this is taking me off the freeway I want to be on" and make a last minute decision to merge back to the right.

If you had autopilot engaged and it was staying in that left lane and taking you off of the 101, what happens if you press the right blinker to say you want to go back to the right? What do you think the autopilot would do in that case?
#1: Stay in the left lane and exit the freeway because it sees those solid white lines and refuses to go right there?
#2: Change lanes into that "not a lane" part where this accident happened?
#3: Change across that dangerous median and over into (what was) the next lane over back onto the 101 ?

View attachment 288705

Gee that is something to think about. I'm guessing AP would take option 2 and go into the barrier thinking it is a lane. After all, there are two lines on each side of it. Interesting thought. I'm wondering if the driver was familiar with this part of the road. If so, he would know that barrier is coming if. If not familiar, well .......

 

[mongo]

Wow! I cannot understand why there is not a white (at a minimum, yellow would be better) cross hatch/ diagonal/chevron "don't drive here" paint job for the lane to nowhere.
We have markings like that picture where you are not supposed to change lanes.

 

[FlyF4]

Wow! I cannot understand why there is not a white (at a minimum, yellow would be better) cross hatch/ diagonal/chevron "don't drive here" paint job for the lane to nowhere.
We have markings like that picture where you are not supposed to change lanes.

good point. I've seen that in places in other cities.

 

[privater]

I agree with @TEG. The part on 101 y-split to 85 is very confusing especially using GPS, either navigation system or Google map will tell you to exit on the right if you want to go 85, or to stay at ‘left’ if you want to continue 101, the problem is, those app didnt tell you that most left lane is actually a carpool lane to 85.
I suspect the driver might want to contine 101, stay at left most lane with ap and suddenly relized it will lead to 85, so he interupt the ap and hit middle bumps.

 

[FA1820]

I have been down this part of 101/85 and have driven on both lanes depending on my destination. I ahve noticed that if I am heading out onto 85 S (left lane) and a car decided to illegally go back onto 101 S (staring lane behind the truck) way before this middle lane shows up, my X gets confused for a second trying ot follow the car exiting the lane. Once it detects the lane marker on the left, it stays on course. This take about a second or longer but not scary. Heading onto the curve that is coming ahead on the ramp, I have to disengage AP as I don’t feel comfortable going head onto the overpass curve at 75mph. I have tested it at 60+ but never beyond that as I feel by the time I am there, I have little time to avoid crash if the the AP doesn’t deliver. But again, that is already on the ramp itself. Having said that, in this image the lanes have already seperated a bit furthere back and going in different directions, left one onto 85 S, middle one onto the barrier (used to be protected by those yellow barrels, not sure when they were removed). I think maybe scenario #2 has happened here and I am not sure how the driver did not steer the car away onto the moving lane.
Bottom line, AP can do so much and it is not 100%. Drivers should not push its limit to discover its shortcomings. It has never been 100% for me during lane change. Disclaimer, I have a first generation model X so I assume it is missing a few features.
My thoughts are with his family. What a sad state of affairs.

 

[buttershrimp]

This sucks. Really sucks. It appears to me to be most likely a person doing a last minute maneuver to get on the other road. These situations seem to be more likely when someone is in front of the driver that wrecks and/or the driver is making multiple lane changes to try to make the HOV lane. Sometimes if the person is entering the freeway, and there is an HOV lane available, they have to get over quickly to make the lane.... so they are constantly looking back in the blind spot with each lane change. It seems to me that the best way to prevent this is a long stretch of those 3 foot high plastic markers that are common in HOV lanes.

 

[mongo]

I agree with @TEG. The part on 101 y-split to 85 is very confusing especially using GPS, either navigation system or Google map will tell you to exit on the right if you want to go 85, or to stay at ‘left’ if you want to continue 101, the problem is, those app didnt tell you that most left lane is actually a carpool lane to 85.
I suspect the driver might want to contine 101, stay at left most lane with ap and suddenly relized it will lead to 85, so he interupt the ap and hit middle bumps.

I wonder how many of the people doing the wrong thing on the two lane roundabout I commute through are being mislead by Google maps. It gives the wrong lane to be in for the left turn.

 

[FlatSix911]

More details and photos posted on Electrek: Tesla assists in removing partially destroyed battery pack after tragic fatal crash resulted in a fire

A Tesla Model X driver died of his injuries earlier today after his vehicle caught on fire in a crash on the highway in the Bay Area. Following the accident, Tesla assisted in the removal of the battery pack that caught on fire. There’s a lot of talk about electric vehicle fires even though there’s no statistic showing that they catch on fire any more frequently than gas-powered cars.

But there’s no doubt that they burn differently due to the battery packs and it is affecting the work of first responders as we reported in a ‘Behind the scene look at how firefighters disabled a Tesla battery while extinguishing a Model S fire’. At one point, 35 firefighters were involved in controlling a Tesla Model S fire.

Today, a Model X hit the median barrier on highway 101 in Mountain View, according to the California Highway Patrol (via NBC), and it quickly caught on fire before being hit by two other cars. The driver was taken to the hospital, but he unfortunately died of his injuries. Images of the aftermath show that the front-end of the Model X was completely destroyed either because of the impact, the extraction process, or the fire (pictures via Dean C. Smith on Twitter):