News about Tesla that caught fire while charging in PA

[NHK X]

I had an episode where my garage almost caught on fire. I have two dual nema 14-50s on either side of my garage and I had a failure of the outlet and it melted and completely scorched the male end of the Mobile wall connector.

This happened even with current pulling per spec. Realized the better route really is it save your mobile connector for your trunk and install a perm wall connector. Also installed fire alarms right above each outlet.

Next house I’ll set up dual wall connectors.

 

[sightman]

At thanksgiving every other person told me about this, being the only Tesla owner in the family.

I keep mine garaged and plugged in most of the time. Perhaps I need a smoke detector in my garage.

 

[Fourdoor]

I feel better now. Glide is actually hunting up random posts I have made in conversations he is not following to disagree with.

Being harassed by a racist, and called a racist by this person is sort a badge of honor isn't it?

Keith

 

[Tezlowski]

Moderator note: This post was moved from a different thread on the same topic.

I just got a MYP and I charge it outside my house. Doesn't look like they know the exact cause/reason for this yet but also looks like there have been a few other reported cases. Does anyone know if this is more misuse or an actual design issue? I thought these were built to prevent this exact thing from happening???

Tesla in Pennsylvania catches fire, flames spread to home

A Tesla electric car caught fire, and the flames spread to a nearby home in Pennsylvania Tuesday night.

www.foxbusiness.com

 

[MikeR99]

Give it about 36 hours, maybe 48 since it's Saturday. More information will be presented.

 

[tstolze]

I just got a MYP and I charge it outside my house. Doesn't look like they know the exact cause/reason for this yet but also looks like there have been a few other reported cases. Does anyone know if this is more misuse or an actual design issue? I thought these were built to prevent this exact thing from happening???

Tesla in Pennsylvania catches fire, flames spread to home

A Tesla electric car caught fire, and the flames spread to a nearby home in Pennsylvania Tuesday night.

www.foxbusiness.com

From 2012 – 2020, there has been approximately one Tesla vehicle fire for every 205 million miles traveled. By comparison, data from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and U.S. Department of Transportation shows that in the United States there is a vehicle fire for every 19 million miles traveled.

Tesla Vehicle Safety Report | Tesla

At Tesla, we believe that technology can help improve safety. That’s why Tesla vehicles are engineered to be the safest cars in the world. We believe the unique combination of passive safety, active safety, and automated driver assistance is crucial for keeping not just Tesla drivers and...

www.tesla.com

 

[MY1stEV]

Rest assured, if the Tesla wasn't the cause of the fire, you'll not hear another peep about this story.

 

[thesmokingman]

Rest assured, if the Tesla wasn't the cause of the fire, you'll not hear another peep about this story.

Yea true lol. It could have been self inflicted...

Almost burned the house down

Charging was interrupted in the middle of the night. Found the garage fuse was tripped and the UMC in this condition. It looks to me like the Nema 14-50 box melted down—do you folks think it was the fault of the nema plug or the UMC? It was professionally installed and has been working for 3...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[AndreP]

From 2012 – 2020, there has been approximately one Tesla vehicle fire for every 205 million miles traveled. By comparison, data from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and U.S. Department of Transportation shows that in the United States there is a vehicle fire for every 19 million miles traveled.

Tesla Vehicle Safety Report | Tesla

At Tesla, we believe that technology can help improve safety. That’s why Tesla vehicles are engineered to be the safest cars in the world. We believe the unique combination of passive safety, active safety, and automated driver assistance is crucial for keeping not just Tesla drivers and...

www.tesla.com

Well there is an array of potential confounding variables here that need to be broken out if we're really wanting to do an apples-to-apples comparison:

-The average age of vehicles on the road, their propensity to ignite, and how those figures change when you assess vehicles with comparable ages
-Conditions under which these vehicle fires started, whether they specifically ignited after an accident etc
-I'm sure there's more

I'll say that spontaneous ignition while sitting at home seems to be a different vector of concern, and we need to address this stuff rather than grasp at figures that don't provide the granularity required to accurately gauge the risks in all situations

 

[Dracaris]

GM/Chevrolet, which isn't exactly known as a car company that likes to do recalls, was eventually forced to get serious about spontaneous fires erupting in their Bolt cars. I'm hopeful that will not be necessary here, but instead of appearing to ignore this kind of event, Tesla should be all over the report cited here and any like it, even if it's only to help them be proactive by getting one jump ahead of the NHTSA.

Given what happened with the Bolt and with Kia, I would expect the Feds to raise at least one eyebrow anytime they see reports of an EV spontaneously erupting into flame in a driveway. After the messes with Chevy and Kia, any driveway EV fire is going to draw the baleful eye of NHTSA. I'm hopeful that with this car there's some pattern of misuse / abuse or prior damage that can help explain what happened. However, if Tesla doesn't do a full investigation of this and any other similar events, they will have only themselves to blame if additional incidents occur and they get cornered into a recall situation. OTOH, the Bolt mess has only cost GM a billion or two (thus far), so maybe Tesla isn't worried about that possibility.

 

[cwerdna]

OTOH, the Bolt mess has only cost GM a billion or two (thus far), so maybe Tesla isn't worried about that possibility.

Yeah, GM booked about $2 billion in costs but General Motors, LG Electronics Reach Agreement on Bolt EV Recall Costs says:

WARREN, Mich. – General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) announced today it has reached an agreement under which LG Electronics Inc. will reimburse GM for costs and expenses associated with the recall of Chevrolet Bolt EVs and EUVs due to manufacturing defects in battery modules supplied by LG.

As a result of the agreement, GM will recognize an estimated recovery in its third-quarter earnings that will offset $1.9 billion of $2.0 billion in charges associated with the recalls.

As a '19 Bolt driver w/US-made battery that got added to the recall around Aug 20, 2021, it is a mess.

 

[MikeyC]

GM/Chevrolet, which isn't exactly known as a car company that likes to do recalls, was eventually forced to get serious about spontaneous fires erupting in their Bolt cars. I'm hopeful that will not be necessary here, but instead of appearing to ignore this kind of event, Tesla should be all over the report cited here and any like it, even if it's only to help them be proactive by getting one jump ahead of the NHTSA.

Given what happened with the Bolt and with Kia, I would expect the Feds to raise at least one eyebrow anytime they see reports of an EV spontaneously erupting into flame in a driveway. After the messes with Chevy and Kia, any driveway EV fire is going to draw the baleful eye of NHTSA. I'm hopeful that with this car there's some pattern of misuse / abuse or prior damage that can help explain what happened. However, if Tesla doesn't do a full investigation of this and any other similar events, they will have only themselves to blame if additional incidents occur and they get cornered into a recall situation. OTOH, the Bolt mess has only cost GM a billion or two (thus far), so maybe Tesla isn't worried about that possibility.

At the risk of sounding combative, all of what you said outside of Tesla doing a thorough investigation of the incident (which should always be done in case of unexplained fire) is irrelevant in the context that we're talking about 1 vehicle out of over a million over the course of 4 years. Doesn't really seem to warrant government involvement and teams of investigators.

Mike

 

[bo3bdar]

At the risk of sounding combative, all of what you said outside of Tesla doing a thorough investigation of the incident (which should always be done in case of unexplained fire) is irrelevant in the context that we're talking about 1 vehicle out of over a million over the course of 4 years. Doesn't really seem to warrant government involvement and teams of investigators.

Mike

Just noting that it doesn't need teams of investigators right now, and maybe not government involvement, but I for one definitely want a third party of some form doing the investigations, not Tesla. It makes no sense to allow the company or person who created the device do failure investigations- I'm sure the findings will always be "everything is fine, nothing to see here." See, for example, all discussions regarding safety of FSD. They have very strong financial incentives.

I don't have that blind hatred of the government, and part of the role of government is to keep individual/corporate profiteering from making it worse for everyone else. Sure it's more profitable if Dow can just dump their waste in the river, but let's not do that OK? Investigating cars fires that might burn down someone else's property seems like something the government should do, and not just take Tesla's word for it.

 

[MikeyC]

Just noting that it doesn't need teams of investigators right now, and maybe not government involvement, but I for one definitely want a third party of some form doing the investigations, not Tesla. It makes no sense to allow the company or person who created the device do failure investigations- I'm sure the findings will always be "everything is fine, nothing to see here." See, for example, all discussions regarding safety of FSD. They have very strong financial incentives.

I don't have that blind hatred of the government, and part of the role of government is to keep individual/corporate profiteering from making it worse for everyone else. Sure it's more profitable if Dow can just dump their waste in the river, but let's not do that OK? Investigating cars fires that might burn down someone else's property seems like something the government should do, and not just take Tesla's word for it.

All sounds logical to me. I mean it makes sense to have a third party investigate. But the government? I'd trust Tesla investigating itself before I'd trust the government doing it.

Here are some of the most recent wonderful accomplishments of the U.S. government:

- Didn't invite Tesla to EV summit
- Hired an anti-Tesla NHTSA safety advisor who also has a known confict of interest in a competing company
- Had the president himself publicly announce GM and Mary Barra as the EV leader who "forced" us all to adopt EVs
- Is excluding Tesla from the lion's share of the EV tax/point of sale credit

My apologies for missing some because I know I likely missed a few: these are just the ones that stuck in my head over the last few months! Given the governments clear bias against Tesla, they are about as good a candidate as Tesla themselves for doing an investigation. Probably the best we can do is let them both do an investigation and post their findings. Then maybe have a true third party evaluate them.

Mike

 

[Dracaris]

Just so I'm clear on this, I am currently a happy owner of a 2021 Tesla Model 3. Yup, happy, especially after having found myself in the needful position of convincing Chevrolet to buy back not one, but two Chevy Bolts, in rapid succession, as their battery firestorm got worse and worse. To be fair to Chevrolet, they actually treated us very fairly indeed. Aside from the overall inconvenience, they made us financially whole.

That said, my central point above was that Tesla needs to get out in front of this kind of thing and be perceived by certain semi-hostile government agencies as doing so. I'm not advocating government involvement here. What I'm suggesting is that if Tesla isn't perceived to be proactive in this kind of event, by what others have asserted is a government with an anti-Tesla stance, Tesla is asking for a very expensive kind of trouble, coming straight at them from the NHTSA.

 

[MikeyC]

That said, my central point above was that Tesla needs to get out in front of this kind of thing and be perceived by certain semi-hostile government agencies as doing so. I'm not advocating government involvement here. What I'm suggesting is that if Tesla isn't perceived to be proactive in this kind of event, by what others have asserted is a government with an anti-Tesla stance, Tesla is asking for a very expensive kind of trouble, coming straight at them from the NHTSA.

Fair enough. But the bottom line is cars catch on fire all the time. When a manufacturer makes over a million cars and after 4 years there's one random fire, I wouldn't expect a swat team backed up by the CSI investigators and NHTSA. This sort of thing typically only warrants official involvement if a safety risk is found OR there are enough cases to warrant an investigation. Meanwhile we have Porsche intentionally hiding a safety/fire risk in the Taycan and almost every other EV (except for the Leaf I believe) going up in flames at much higher rates.

Why have there been fires in almost all vehicles made with LG batteries, not just the Bolt: VW ID.4, Mustang Mach-E, and others... yet only Tesla makes the news? Simple: everyone wants to fry the "big fish". Tesla's safety record is orders of magnitude better than literally every other EV manufacturer. But the media and the government can't make money (or votes) off Tesla. It is what it is.

Mike

 

[mark95476]

Tesla's new counsel/lawyer comes from a government agency. They know they have to start playing the game like everyone else.

This might open the flood-gates to all sorts of useless ex-government personnel, retired politicians and their families, etc. being hired at Tesla.

Fair enough. But the bottom line is cars catch on fire all the time. When a manufacturer makes over a million cars and after 4 years there's one random fire, I wouldn't expect a swat team backed up by the CSI investigators and NHTSA. This sort of thing typically only warrants official involvement if a safety risk is found OR there are enough cases to warrant an investigation. Meanwhile we have Porsche intentionally hiding a safety/fire risk in the Taycan and almost every other EV (except for the Leaf I believe) going up in flames at much higher rates.

Why have there been fires in almost all vehicles made with LG batteries, not just the Bolt: VW ID.4, Mustang Mach-E, and others... yet only Tesla makes the news? Simple: everyone wants to fry the "big fish". Tesla's safety record is orders of magnitude better than literally every other EV manufacturer. But the media and the government can't make money (or votes) off Tesla. It is what it is.

Mike

 

[Dracaris]

Fair enough. But the bottom line is cars catch on fire all the time. When a manufacturer makes over a million cars and after 4 years there's one random fire, I wouldn't expect a swat team backed up by the CSI investigators and NHTSA. This sort of thing typically only warrants official involvement if a safety risk is found OR there are enough cases to warrant an investigation. Meanwhile we have Porsche intentionally hiding a safety/fire risk in the Taycan and almost every other EV (except for the Leaf I believe) going up in flames at much higher rates.

Why have there been fires in almost all vehicles made with LG batteries, not just the Bolt: VW ID.4, Mustang Mach-E, and others... yet only Tesla makes the news? Simple: everyone wants to fry the "big fish". Tesla's safety record is orders of magnitude better than literally every other EV manufacturer. But the media and the government can't make money (or votes) off Tesla. It is what it is.

Mike

Agreed on most counts. Your second paragraph explains our choice of a Tesla instead of any of the other brands / models that use LG batteries. Given the Bolt issues were caused by the battery manufacturer and not GM, we weren't willing to buy anything today, that's based on batteries from LG.

One count we don't agree on: Chevrolet Bolt has made tons and tons of news. Tons.

OTOH, I would agree the VW ID.3 fire in the Netherlands didn't make much of a dent, and Hyundai (not Kia, sorry for my earlier mistype above) only made minor news even when several of their cars burned up before and after an alleged software fix, with what I am pretty sure were the same LG batteries as in the Bolt. As I was leaving the Bolt fold and picking up our Tesla there were stories surfacing that indicated NHTSA was aiming its baleful glare at LG and all cars made with their batteries as a potential ongoing safety threat, but I've not seen much since then, and Ford certainly shipped it's Mach-E with a version of them. Hopefully, the Mach-E was made with LG batteries built after LG's most recent claim to have found and fixed the problem. We'll see on that front. Meanwhile, our next EV is at least a couple of years out and we can wait while everyone keeps building more EVs and hopefully continuously improving the safety of the batteries inside them.

 

[GeekyDoc]

I truly appreciate the civil discourse on this thread. Some great thoughts and insights for sure.

That said, I really would like us to not trivialize these concerns especially because the way a battery fire burns, it has the potential to take a lot down with it very fast. Cars burned per miles traveled is all good and dandy but an ICE car would not sit attached to a 240V outlet overnight and hence the potential for this happening in that scenario would be nil or very very low. A lot of us park our Teslas in our garages and mine is underneath our master bedroom so my main concern was if there is something that we should be watching out for. It was interesting and caught my eye because in the past it's usually been the model S that was involved in such incidents. And I think I had read it was mainly in the older models and fixed in later ones. Was surprised to see that this was a Model 3.

It also looks like proper/professional installation and use of recommended wiring is key. The sometimes relatively prohibitive cost to do so might cause a few folks to youtube it and who knows if that was the culprit? And as someone mentioned, using a wall mounted charger hardwired vs the mobile one seems to be a better option? I personally did not go that route because I planned to always charge overnight at home and have not unplugged my mobile charger since the day I got it.

Brings me to my point: wondering if the car has a way to monitor heat at charge point and to cut off/stop charging if it senses anything awry?

 

[Darmie]

Tuning in to learn the cause of the fire. There should be an investigation of some sort. We should hear something from the local fire Marshal.