Stolen Model S crashes after police pursuit. 7/4/14

[austinEV]

I agree with others that there is no point in parsing this to avoid the fact that there has been the first fatality. It happened, it was bound to someday.

But people, this is a (morbidly) positive thing if your concern is the stock and the viability of the company. I have had restless nights wondering how the first death would affect the stock. (I listed it many times as the #1 negative catalyst waiting in the wings). If it had been a photogenic mother of 4 young children, belted in, who happened to get distracted and weave into oncoming traffic... well the blowback would be fierce. Irrational yes, but fierce.

Here, even a casual headline-only observer would readily see this as either the death of a thief, or of a reckless unbuckled driver and has little to say about the car's safety. And the novelty of the "first" is used up, for the inevitable second incident. That takes the steam out of that story and materially de-risks the stock. Now it has to be a numbers game and on a per-mile basis Model S' are still quite safe.

 

[ntam]

I asked a Tesla employee at the Service Center that I visited yesterday to see if they know how the Tesla was stolen. I was told that the car thief was actually doing car washes on Model S's at that LA Service Center. So he had access to the keys and cars and he was a disgruntled employee. However, I have not been able to confirm this information from other news yet. They have since added security box to lock up the keys now.

 

[chickensevil]

I agree with others that there is no point in parsing this to avoid the fact that there has been the first fatality. It happened, it was bound to someday.

But people, this is a (morbidly) positive thing if your concern is the stock and the viability of the company. I have had restless nights wondering how the first death would affect the stock. (I listed it many times as the #1 negative catalyst waiting in the wings). If it had been a photogenic mother of 4 young children, belted in, who happened to get distracted and weave into oncoming traffic... well the blowback would be fierce. Irrational yes, but fierce.

Here, even a casual headline-only observer would readily see this as either the death of a thief, or of a reckless unbuckled driver and has little to say about the car's safety. And the novelty of the "first" is used up, for the inevitable second incident. That takes the steam out of that story and materially de-risks the stock. Now it has to be a numbers game and on a per-mile basis Model S' are still quite safe.

Agreed, and for a numbers game, we are (so far) doing quite well considering the overall average says we should have had 3 to 4 deaths by now.

 

[Pilot_51]

I asked a Tesla employee at the Service Center that I visited yesterday to see if they know how the Tesla was stolen. I was told that the car thief was actually doing car washes on Model S's at that LA Service Center. So he had access to the keys and cars and he was a disgruntled employee. However, I have not been able to confirm this information from other news yet. They have since added security box to lock up the keys now.

If true, that further supports the idea of a valet mode of sorts, ideally with a custom speed limit or even disabling drive. For someone washing cars in the lot, 5-10 mph should be a good limit if they need to move the cars around, otherwise disable driving.

 

[howardc64]

RIP to the guy that died... and may his family find some comfort.

 

[bonnie]

RIP to the guy that died... and may his family find some comfort.

This.

 

[tdelta1000]

The fatality was in part to his own stupid actions. The Model S didn't kill this guy he killed himself with his own actions! Please close this thread already.

 

[xhawk101]

The fatality was in part to his own stupid actions. The Model S didn't kill this guy he killed himself with his own actions! Please close this thread already.

This.

 

[ecarfan]

The fatality was in part to his own stupid actions.

"In part due to"? I would say "entirely due to".

 

[chickensevil]

Before someone decides to close this, I would still like to know if there was or wasn't a passenger with the thief, since that is still something we could point to, that if the driver was wearing his seatbelt he might have faired better.

 

[NigelM]

Before someone decides to close this....

Take a look around. It's extremely rare we ever close a thread and if we do it's usually because a fight broke out or the discussion turned too nasty.

 

[ZBB]

If true, that further supports the idea of a valet mode of sorts, ideally with a custom speed limit or even disabling drive. For someone washing cars in the lot, 5-10 mph should be a good limit if they need to move the cars around, otherwise disable driving.

Except that they don't wash cars in the lot -- they take them to a nearby car wash. The car needs to be on city streets...

 

[bonnie]

Take a look around. It's extremely rare we ever close a thread and if we do it's usually because a fight broke out or the discussion turned too nasty.

+1. We pretty much let the threads run unless it's obvious that won't work (because people are determined to fight and/or be nasty about something). Best advice if someone wants it closed, just stay away. Don't participate in the thread. Then it slowly gets buried and dies off.

 

[wk057]

Except that they don't wash cars in the lot -- they take them to a nearby car wash. The car needs to be on city streets...

At the new Devon, PA service center they hand wash the cars inside the service center.

 

[Chickenlittle]

At the new Devon, PA service center they hand wash the cars inside the service center.

Maryland too

 

[Juan Burgundy]

I asked a Tesla employee at the Service Center that I visited yesterday to see if they know how the Tesla was stolen. I was told that the car thief was actually doing car washes on Model S's at that LA Service Center. So he had access to the keys and cars and he was a disgruntled employee. However, I have not been able to confirm this information from other news yet. They have since added security box to lock up the keys now.

Obviously a made up story, sad that it was stated by an actual Tesla Employee.

 

[AlMc]

Obviously a made up story, sad that it was stated by an actual Tesla Employee.

Actually, we don't know the story from an official source (TM or LAPD). So, it is heresay. The story may be false, but it could still be true if the thief was actually the person that drove the cars to the car wash for the SC. But we don't know.

I would endorse keeping this thread open. It will go away, with time, but will serve as a source for people posting official info as it becomes available. I would like to know how the thief gained access to the car and what became of the passenger, if there was one.

 

[dsm363]

As Nigel and Bonnie said we rarely close threads so not sure why that was brought up.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Before someone decides to close this, I would still like to know if there was or wasn't a passenger with the thief, since that is still something we could point to, that if the driver was wearing his seatbelt he might have faired better.

I would like to know this too. There were several reports about a passenger with the thief, but the recent articles don't mention this at all.

 

[brianman]

On the general topic of accidents, injuries, and fatalities...
I beg the mods to consider a policy change. Discussions around the guilt and words like "deserve" should be quarantined to a separate thread titled something like "judge and jury backseat driving" thread right next to the "what do you think about the death penalty" thread.