Ugh. Another Model S fire - 2013-11-06

[omgwtfbyobbq]

I don't believe NHTSA's goal is eliminating battery pack fires. The entry at NHTSA says that they are assessing the risks of undercarriage damage. That's all. Even if the pack catches fire, as long as the occupants are safe then there is no need for modifications. Most likely, the NHTSA will link the damage with the low ride height, which can be easily changed via software.

I don't think the goal eliminating them, but minimizing them, and ultimately improving overall safety. There was a similar investigation of the Volt, and that was due to a fire that happened three weeks after the car was subjected to multiple crash tests. This kind of fire was not seen on the road. The end result was a voluntary recall by Chevy. If the NHSA determines that these weren't freak incidents, I imagine we'll see a voluntary recall from Tesla once they have designed components that can minimize the risk of battery fires.

 

[stopcrazypp]

The end result was a voluntary recall by Chevy.

But the NHTSA did not find anything wrong nor requested them do any action and GM phrases it as "a voluntary customer satisfaction issue" (even though all the media reported it as a recall). If NHTSA has similar findings, Elon already said he won't do a recall.
http://www.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/Pr...ent+on+Conclusion+of+Chevy+Volt+Investigation
http://www.autoblog.com/2012/01/05/chevy-volt-will-receive-safety-enhancements-but-dont-call-it-a/

For reference, there's what Elon said about what he would do after the investigation:

While we think it is highly unlikely, if something is discovered that would result in a material improvement in occupant fire safety, we will immediately apply that change to new cars and offer it as a free retrofit to all existing cars.

http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/mission-tesla

It says "occupant fire safety", not "preventing a fire from happening" and I think it's worded that way on purpose.

 

[jerry33]

It says "occupant fire safety", not "preventing a fire from happening" and I think it's worded that way on purpose.

Of course. There is no way to prevent every kind of fire. If there was, we'd build houses that way and save the fire insurance premiums. I believe Elon has said that they design for when a fire happens, not if a fire happens, because fires will sometimes happen and it's a matter of "when", not "if".

 

[NigelM]

Mod Notes:

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[Gynob001]

What do we do if we see an object on the road that could do damage? With other cars, we try to swerve to the next lane or get the object between the front tires. In case of Tesla, any guidelines?

 

[JRP3]

If you can safely swerve around it, then do so, obviously, otherwise, I think you still need to straddle it, though you might try to bias it to one side instead of right down the middle. That might allow you to miss the forward most pack module. If you have a 60 I believe that module is empty so it might not matter.

 

[InTheShadows]

What do we do if we see an object on the road that could do damage? With other cars, we try to swerve to the next lane or get the object between the front tires. In case of Tesla, any guidelines?

That is an interesting question. Perhaps it would be better to take the hit on the tire if you think it may be something that would puncture the tire.

Did you see Elon's tweet last night?

@elonmusk: RT @mgalimany: @TeslaMotors @elonmusk This is what happens when your car is not a #Tesla Model S.
Dangerous Trailers.org Presents Road Debris Impales Car The NTSB does not care! - YouTube
This will never happen with a TS

 

[GSP]

Great video. It shows how dangerous road debris are, especially without a battery pack to protect you.

GSP

 

[Raffy.Roma]

Great video. It shows how dangerous road debris are, especially without a battery pack to protect you.

GSP

+ 1

 

[wstuff]

Is it possible to change the name of this thread, Maybe third tesla fire or last tesla fire?

 

[SwedishAdvocate]

Is it possible to change the name of this thread, Maybe third tesla fire or last tesla fire?

I second this motion.

 

[Raffy.Roma]

Is it possible to change the name of this thread, Maybe third tesla fire or last tesla fire?

IMO third tesla fire wouldn't be right because the fire in Mexico was due to a collision and not a to road debris. For me it would be ok second tesla fire or last tesla fire.

 

[AudubonB]

Usage police here, nothing more:

LATEST fire is what would be correct. LAST implies there are to be no further ones. As fervently as we all desire that to be the case, grammar+logic requires the former....

 

[Andrew]

How about we just remove the "Ugh. Another " from the title?

 

[Doug_G]

If you can't swerve to avoid the debris then I would plant the brakes. It's the one thing you can do to reduce the impact energy. Also hard braking will lower the front of the car due to the weight transfer, and this might cause the object to dig into the car in front of the battery pack, instead of hitting the pack itself.

 

[ViperDoc]

Avoiding debris

If you can't swerve to avoid the debris then I would plant the brakes. It's the one thing you can do to reduce the impact energy. Also hard braking will lower the front of the car due to the weight transfer, and this might cause the object to dig into the car in front of the battery pack, instead of hitting the pack itself.

Of course, the other thing we could do would be to not follow so closely on the tails of the car in front of us to give ourselves more reaction time to brake or swerve. I remember when I took drivers' ed years ago and was taught 1 car length for every 10 mph. That clearly isn't realistic since people cut in front of you, but I see many people following at distances that are clearly too close no matter what car they are driving!

 

[GDH]

How about we just remove the "Ugh. Another " from the title?

Or how about it's locked and we all move on :tongue:

 

[Todd Burch]

How about we just remove the "Ugh. Another " from the title?

Agree. Everytime there's a recent post and this thread bumps to the top, I start panicking! Hehe.

 

[NigelM]

Is it possible to change the name of this thread, Maybe third tesla fire or last tesla fire?

Personally, I'd rather not change the title of a thread with ~1,000 posts. We'll give it some thought though. BTW, the date in the title does already give it timeline context.

 

[JRP3]

Agree there is no point in changing it now.