Rescuers can't open doors of burning Model S

[steve841]

This happened literally about 100 yards from my house ... on a 3 lane road. This guy clearly was insanely speeding and lost control. You could see his tracks went off the road, lost the rear end in the grass ended up on the median. It was ugly AND It was his fault. Windows could have been broken but that never happened.

 

[PWlakewood]

Nothing specifically for windows, but could be equipped with
a. Gun to shoot someone
b. Taser to zap someone
c. NiteStick/ Truncheon to break knees,ribs ,heads...…...

All first responders have a glass punch to break glass so im not buying it that they didnt have anything to break the glass.

 

[quickstrike12]

I may be wrong but as I recall it was bystanders who didn’t break the glass. The first responders were not on scene before the fire occurred. I think I’m remembering correctly that the people around didn’t know how to open doors and wouldn’t or couldn’t break a window.
???

 

[ddawson]

I break windows all the time with my ASP/Barton. If the doors are LOCKED the door won't open. Stupid lawsuit.

 

[quickstrike12]

I’ll add in ANY car crash regardless of door handles, it is very likely doors will not open once deformed and in a bind. Obviously depending on the severity of crash.
And by law they must be able to open mechanicaly from inside without power(which they do)

 

[Rockster]

Does anyone else find the timing of this story suspicious? The event happened months ago and the lawsuit was filed "earlier this month," yet the story mysteriously breaks the morning after Tesla releases a stellar quarterly earnings report? Methinks that someone was sitting on this juicy negative story until right after the earnings call, just in case it was necessary to temper a positive report.

I believe, too, that if we look back at other positive earnings calls, we will see carefully timed negative press immediately following. One other that comes to mind is an article immediately after a previous quarterly earnings call that Tesla may be using SpaceX technology illegally/inappropriately. Bothering to read past the sensationalized headline, though, revealed (down in paragraph seven or so) that the technology in question was shared more than three years ago and that the SpaceX board was fully aware and had approved the technology sharing. A total non-story, carefully timed.

This is how the news game is played these days.

 

[PWlakewood]

Does anyone else find the timing of this story suspicious? The event happened months ago and the lawsuit was filed "earlier this month," yet the story mysteriously breaks the morning after Tesla releases a stellar quarterly earnings report? Methinks that someone was sitting on this juicy negative story until right after the earnings call, just in case it was necessary to temper a positive report.

I believe, too, that if we look back at other positive earnings calls, we will see carefully timed negative press immediately following. One other that comes to mind is an article immediately after a previous quarterly earnings call that Tesla may be using SpaceX technology illegally/inappropriately. Bothering to read past the sensationalized headline, though, revealed (down in paragraph seven or so) that the technology in question was shared more than three years ago and that the SpaceX board was fully aware and had approved the technology sharing. A total non-story, carefully timed.

This is how the news game is played these days.

Absolutely not a coincidence but strategically planned IMO.

 

[steve841]

FWIW ... took an hour to get home because they blocked my street .... Some photos.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/sLRvuYDddLehZzv29

 

[Xenoilphobe]

Dr Omar Awan was driving his dream car when he lost control. The sleek, blue Model S Tesla careened across a road in South Florida and slammed into a palm tree. But it was not the crash that killed him, his family's lawyers allege - it was the car's futuristic design features. The last moments of Dr Awan's life were gruesome and excruciating. After the crash, the Tesla's lithium ion battery caught fire.

Family of man in Tesla crash alleges car was a death trap

Dr Omar Awan was driving his dream car when he lost control. The sleek, blue Model S Tesla careened across a road in South Florida and slammed into a palm tree. But it was not the crash that killed him, his family's lawyers allege - it was the car's futuristic design features. The last moments of Dr Awan's life were gruesome and excruciating. After the crash, the Tesla's lithium ion battery caught fire.

Family of man in Tesla crash alleges car was a death trap

did something leave that axe at the firehouse? I’m calling BS.

 

[brkaus]

did something leave that axe at the firehouse? I’m calling BS.

And all those other cars on the road that have that futuristic technology called “door locks” keeping outsiders from opening the door.

 

[rtheron]

This is a sad event for all concerned, and without knowing all the details it is best to not cast an opinion on who is to blame.
If safety was paramount in the design of the car, which it was/is, why not pop out the handles and unlock the doors on impact?
If we can do it for a glove box why not for your only means of escape?

The car already does that, the severity of the impact damaged /disabled the mechanism that does this and didn't pop out the door handles

 

[jerry33]

The car already does that, the severity of the impact damaged /disabled the mechanism that does this and didn't pop out the door handles

Just like any other car.

 

[NYCR160]

The stock price is up. Time to roll out the negative stories.....

 

[MichaelP90DL]

All First responders carry a device that will break the glass. In fact it's a good thing to keep in your glove box just in case you get trapped. Many options but heres one

https://www.amazon.com/Zak-Tool-LEP...ywords=glass+punch+tool&qid=1572025715&sr=8-6

Excellent! I just ordered one. Thank you!

 

[Tam]

...it was the car's futuristic design features...

1) As @quickstrike12 pointed out, lots of time in such a collision force, the doors and their door handle housing might be deformed and first responders can either break the glass or use the jaw of life to cut through the door.

2) Tesla Model S has backup power for airbags and its doors locally in an airbag event even when the 12V battery might be destroyed.

All 4 Model S door handles are designed to automatically extend out when an airbag event is triggered.

3) In a conventional car, people are still burned to death even when their doors are wide open as the picture of a Lexus shown below (the gasoline flame would be too intense and too soon to drag out occupants in some cases):

It's a result of high speed, not because of doors.

 

[ChadS]

Agreeing with Tam; my wife saw 4 people die in an ICE fire many years ago. They had no problem opening the doors, and in fact two of them got out - just not fast enough.

It sucks.

 

[Babaron]

Very sad to hear that someone lost his life.

As for the frequency of lawsuits, just consider that the United States has about 5% of the world’s population but has 70% of the world’s lawyers. Need I say more?

 

[SSedan]

Nothing specifically for windows, but could be equipped with
a. Gun to shoot someone
b. Taser to zap someone
c. NiteStick/ Truncheon to break knees,ribs ,heads...…...

Please take your anti-police crap elsewhere, police help far more people than they hurt and the vast majority of the folks they hurt forced the officers hand into making that happen.

Officers help a lot of people in distress every day, and you want to fixate on lies like "hands up don't shoot", disgusting.

 

[S4WRXTTCS]

There are two lawsuits filed against Tesla that are related to this issue

Both are in Florida
Both crashes happened as the result of not just speeding, but reckless speeding. The other crash that involved a young driver that was going 116mph at the moment of impact.

Both lawsuits seem to completely ignore the fact that the fact that the driver was at fault for reckless driving, and that their behavior caused an accident way more severe than what the cars designed for.

Sure it's sad in both cases the ones who died were alive after the crash, and only died because of the inability of bystanders to get them out of the car.

It's only partly related to the doors.

It's also related to what happens to the battery. A battery like that isn't meant to be ruptured, and when it does as the cells go one by one. But, the design is meant to slow the progress of the fire thereby allowing time to get out. Which in most cases works beautifully, but in some extreme cases with a lot of damage it means that bystanders might really struggle with getting them out during those precious moments that the battery design is giving them time. So they die in a horrific manner. Now of course they'd likely die in an internal combustion car as well, but just more suddenly.

It's really that "But, they were alive" that really drives the lawsuits.

Like Paul Walker lawsuit was another case where he was alive, and I think that drove a lot of the emotions of the trial.

 

[Hank42]

Please take your anti-police crap elsewhere, police help far more people than they hurt and the vast majority of the folks they hurt forced the officers hand into making that happen.....

I'm not sure why you think ccdisce is anti-police - he just made an observation and questioned the information provided.I thought the comparison of police equipment was humorous, maybe in slightly poor taste, but I defiantly didn't get the sense of "anti-police" from it.
I see this thread has people fired up.