Tesla sued for teenager crash (out of main)

[Nocturnal]

If I would have gotten a ticket for over 100 in a 30 at 18 years there would be no more car.

Yup. Heck, even if my parents didn't care there would have been no way I'd be able to afford insurance. IIRC at 16 I was paying like 2k a year for liability on an 83 Maxima. I can't imagine what insurance costs (even if it's your parent's insurance) for an 18 year old in a model S with a history of huge tickets.

 

[BulldogsRus]

Which has nothing to do with the accident suitability. And 12 reports is a lot better than many car lines (albeit with more cars)


Just a note to correct a past post of mine. It is the passenger's estate in the suit, not the driver's.

Yes it does, they stated it sounds pretty safe, and yet you NEVER hear of an ICE vehicle reigniting many hours later! You think that because this has happened multiple times, and has been confirmed that it isn't an anomaly because of how the packs are configured...that it isn't relevant with regards to overall safety?? Do you realize this could've happened while the vehicle was being flatbedded down the highway, or possibly engulfed an entire warehouse unbeknownst to anyone who assumed that the fire had already been extinguished earlier in the day?

 

[ggr]

Yes it does, they stated it sounds pretty safe, and yet you NEVER hear of an ICE vehicle reigniting many hours later! You think that because this has happened multiple times, and has been confirmed that it isn't an anomaly because of how the packs are configured...that it isn't relevant with regards to overall safety?? Do you realize this could've happened while the vehicle was being flatbedded down the highway, or possibly engulfed an entire warehouse unbeknownst to anyone who assumed that the fire had already been extinguished earlier in the day?

What does it matter that the pack reignited to the family of the person who had already died in the initial accident?

 

[BulldogsRus]

What does it matter that the pack reignited to the family of the person who had already died in the initial accident?

Because I wasn't responding to that, I was responding to this in my original post:

I also find this line somewhat disingenuous:

There have been at least a dozen worldwide reported cases of Tesla S batteries catching fire in collisions as well as while stationary in the last five years.

Don't know about you folks, but this sounds pretty safe to me...

And my responses have been that this is unique to Tesla/EVs because of how the battery is configured. This doesn't happen to ICE vehicles, where there is a risk of random reignition hours or a day later. What if a bodyshop was starting to repair a vehicle in an accident earlier and either their business and all customer cars go up in flames, or seriosly injures the person working on it? Does that sound like a safe car to you? That was my point. The OP was saying that 12 fires in 5 years is safe, but the bigger issue is why these vehicles are REIGNITING at all hours later. There should be something put in place to not allow that to happen.

 

[MP3Mike]

The OP was saying that 12 fires in 5 years is safe, but the bigger issue is why these vehicles are REIGNITING at all hours later. There should be something put in place to not allow that to happen.

And there may have been in the Model 3 battery pack. (The goo that the cells are covered in.) If it actually does that and works I would assume that the Model S&X packs will get it at some point in the future as well. (Probably when they switch to 2170 cells.)

 

[ggr]

Because I wasn't responding to that, I was responding to this in my original post:

I also find this line somewhat disingenuous:

There have been at least a dozen worldwide reported cases of Tesla S batteries catching fire in collisions as well as while stationary in the last five years.

Don't know about you folks, but this sounds pretty safe to me...

And my responses have been that this is unique to Tesla/EVs because of how the battery is configured. This doesn't happen to ICE vehicles, where there is a risk of random reignition hours or a day later. What if a bodyshop was starting to repair a vehicle in an accident earlier and either their business and all customer cars go up in flames, or seriosly injures the person working on it? Does that sound like a safe car to you? That was my point. The OP was saying that 12 fires in 5 years is safe, but the bigger issue is why these vehicles are REIGNITING at all hours later. There should be something put in place to not allow that to happen.

It's not a characteristic that is unique to Tesla packs. There was a chevy volt that reignited days or weeks after it was in a crash test, that even triggered a recall. There was a dockyard full of Fiskers that caught fire one after another, after one caught fire in a flood.

 

[Sudre]

Because I wasn't responding to that, I was responding to this in my original post:

I also find this line somewhat disingenuous:

There have been at least a dozen worldwide reported cases of Tesla S batteries catching fire in collisions as well as while stationary in the last five years.

Don't know about you folks, but this sounds pretty safe to me...

And my responses have been that this is unique to Tesla/EVs because of how the battery is configured. This doesn't happen to ICE vehicles, where there is a risk of random reignition hours or a day later. What if a bodyshop was starting to repair a vehicle in an accident earlier and either their business and all customer cars go up in flames, or seriosly injures the person working on it? Does that sound like a safe car to you? That was my point. The OP was saying that 12 fires in 5 years is safe, but the bigger issue is why these vehicles are REIGNITING at all hours later. There should be something put in place to not allow that to happen.

I find it much more dangerous that ICE vehicles just ignite for no reason at all. Period. They don’t even have to be in an accident. I am sure sooner or later there will be an EV that ignites just sitting around not in an accident. BMW just needs to make a few more EV models.

The issue with EVs reigniting after an accident is called a learning curve and is not exclusive to EV. If the 12 volt battery is not disconnected from an ICE it too has a risk of catching fire on a hauler in the right conditions. You just don’t hear about those stories anymore. Once haulers and junkyards become informed the EV reigniting issue will be rectified. As far as I know EV do not go up in an instant ball of flames like ICE. They slowly smolder in the junkyard and take several days to final rematch fire.

 

[Yggdrasill]

And my responses have been that this is unique to Tesla/EVs because of how the battery is configured. This doesn't happen to ICE vehicles, where there is a risk of random reignition hours or a day later. What if a bodyshop was starting to repair a vehicle in an accident earlier and either their business and all customer cars go up in flames, or seriosly injures the person working on it? Does that sound like a safe car to you? That was my point. The OP was saying that 12 fires in 5 years is safe, but the bigger issue is why these vehicles are REIGNITING at all hours later. There should be something put in place to not allow that to happen.

Lithium-ion batteries have the unfortunate quality of containing everything needed to sustain a fire, as well as potentially becoming a source of heat, if shorted. This is unlike gasoline, where you need both air and an external source of heat to get a fire started.

This is why it's important for first responders to the scene of an accident involving an EV on fire to follow the procedures specified by the manufacturer. For Tesla, this is:

1. The battery pack needs to be cooled with water until the entire pack is at ambient temperatures.
2. You have to wait for a bit, and then verify that the pack is still cool with an infrared camera, before starting to move the car or anything like that.
3. The car has to be stored outdoors for a number of days, away from other vehicles.

I don't know for sure if the procedures were followed, but if they weren't, that's an error on the side of the first responders. They might need better training or more experience.

Also, if it isn't completely obvious - an EV with pack damage shouldn't be anywhere near a body shop - first the manufacturer has to remove the pack and either fully discharge it before scrapping it, or repair it.