Tesla catches fire and burns driver alive after doors wouldn't open

Lithium batteries are crazy unstable. Nice power, but man, the cover gets damaged they can explode.
I always cringe when I see people vaping with 18650 batteries, especially after seeing the pics of the guy who blew his jaw off with the flashlight in his mouth. Now imaging hundreds of them stacked in a battery pack.
Pretty much a bomb on wheels.

Added: PSA...if you do have any lithium ion batteries, you need to store them in containers, under no circumstance leave them loose.
Especially if you are traveling, in your glove box, or your junk drawer. One screwdriver poke, etc, your house/car is burning down.

originally posted by: Edumakated

originally posted by: lakenheath24
Dude...exactly.....the retractable door handles are OUTSIDE!!!!!
Not to defend Tesala but damn, this glaring error makes me dismiss the article as scare mongering.



a reply to: Edumakated

This quote here from the OP is ridiculous...

Omar Awan, 48, died recently after crashing his Tesla. The Tesla caught fire, but unfortunately Mr. Awan got trapped inside the car and subsequently burned alive, as the Tesla's door handles were retractable and did not open, which would have otherwise allowed him to simply step out of the vehicle.

I've noticed a trend of turning one off events related to Tesla's as some sort of indication of a problem. THere are literally a couple million Tesla's on the road now. You are going to have a handful of crashes and weird sh*t happen. Every car does...

that is a wee bit of hyperbole. has Tesla even produced ONE million cars? and yet even with that limited number of vehicles, there does in fact seem to be an awful lot of them catching fire. other companies do in fact have millions of cars on the roads, and at the same time not so many catching fire. in fact while car fires do happen, it is not all that common. in fact the one car that did in fact have a record for fires was the Ford Pinto. which due to a simple design failure had one bolt that in a rear end accident would puncture the gas tank, and at the same time provide a spark for ignition of fuel vapour. something that was easily fixed. although the Pinto became something no one wanted just due to it's reputation, even after the issue was fixed. and yet the same thing has not happened because with the Tesla unlike the Pinto, not a huge news item being spread around the media damming it. i guess doing so would be against their "green agenda".

car fires are really not all that common. and other than the Pinto and Tesla are normally due to maintenance issues. things like faulty fuel lines as well as things like coolant, brake fluid and oil spills and leaks onto the exhaust system. the Problem with the Tesla however is it's battery. pretty much the same problem as the batteries in cellphones and many other higher power electronics. an issue inherent with the newer types of batteries. where they can overheat and combust. from causes such as short circuits, charging issues, and even just too much power draw on them. and even worse which i would suspect is what would be at fault in this case, especially since it would seem it caught fire more than once after being put out. is damage to the battery. it seems these newer high power batteries don't like being exposed to everyday air. which makes it a major problem for powering a car. since cars tend to get into accidents, which of course have a decent chance of damaging said battery and exposing it to the air. now car fires even after accidents in a normal gas, diesel, and even things like propane are rather rare. in fact even when said fuel is leaking from things like ruptured gas tanks and fuel lines, it takes a source of ignition to set it on fire. with these batteries it seems all it takes for a fire is damage to the battery, which makes a huge difference in safety. adding in the overheating/combustion issue just makes that safety issue even worse. and unlike with the Pinto, there is no simple "quick fix, to correct these issues.

at this point one has to wonder why the company Tesla is not shut down as a fire hazard. since it is not only their cars that have fire issues. but they also have fire issues with their solar panels catching fire. both supposedly "green energy", which is likely why media has not played up the dangers of Tesla products. sure they report on some of the fires Tesla products cause here and there. but they have not put nearly the hype and fear mongering into it like they did with the Pinto. which of course would scare people away from likely not just Tesla, but all similar types of "green energy". which of course would hurt their agenda.

How easy to put a thermal cutoff between battery packs? Dunno...not an engineer, but seems logical to me. Oh wait, expenses.


a reply to: Mandroid7

The Associated Press reported that an emergency responder tried to break a window to extract Awan from the burning car, but was unsuccessful. A self-proclaimed witness to the event told WPLG news that the doors couldn’t be opened and that the driver was trapped by the airbags, but her account has yet to be corroborated by officials.

Thinking it was not much of an attempt at breaking the window.

They did get the body out.

a reply to: lakenheath24

The problem is the chemical reaction Lithium has when it reacts with oxygen in the air.

Hence the explosive nature of the batteries if the seal is damaged.

a reply to: lakenheath24

Yeah, the are called "regulated" batteries, or PCB (power control board) which regulate for excess draw and over charging.
You should never, ever buy a lithium battery without one.
The regulated batteries keep you safe from operating issues, but the problem isn't just there, it is in physical damage of the cell.
The regulated ones will explode in a fireball if punctured or smashed too.
They are just highly unstable by design.
Still, ba for flashlights, just run the high end stuff and replace them every once and a while.
I just burn them in a campfire when the jacket starts to tear, I don't trust them in my trash can.

a reply to: trollz

Smart Summon is also a nightmare lawsuit waiting to happen (have you seen any of the videos online?)

Tesla's website still says they expect their vehicles to be "full self-driving in cities" by end-of-year. I call bull#

a reply to: andy06shake

Thanks, I knew it was something along those lines. Nasty, nasty stuff.

originally posted by: lakenheath24
How easy to put a thermal cutoff between battery packs? Dunno...not an engineer, but seems logical to me. Oh wait, expenses.


a reply to: Mandroid7

The problem with the lithium batteries is when they are punctured. Air literally causes them to go thermal. I race off road RC cars and we have to take great care to ensure the batteries don't get punctured or stressed. However, there are still instances where a car "goes nuclear".

The batteries aren't as stable as gas. Gas is an issue near any spark or open flame. Batteries will overheat and catch fire as soon as they are punctured and exposed to air. The other big issue is that water doesn't extinguish them (IRCC, salt water will though). You need sand or some other type of chemical.

a reply to: Edumakated

Yeah, I used to mess with those, as well as nitro cars, buggys and boats.
Fun stuff.
The problem there is pushing the discharge rates through the roof with high draw motors.
They really are screaming over 100 mph. Don't hit your shins.
Whats really funny, is this tesla fraud just stacked a bunch of cells like a big rc car.
100's, idk maybe 1000's of those bad boys in a pack.
Similar to Dewalts 20v packs, which are just a few 18650's.
I'd be interested to see stats on the Tesla which you have to pay to unlock power level.
I bet if they were more common, you'd hear about more problems in those.
You are getting more into the rc realm where you are pushing draw to the max.
For now I will be sticking to gas and saving the explosive batteries for my thrower flashlights.

originally posted by: Mandroid7
a reply to: Edumakated

Yeah, I used to mess with those, as well as nitro cars, buggys and boats.
Fun stuff.
The problem there is pushing the discharge rates through the roof with high draw motors.
They really are screaming over 100 mph. Don't hit your shins.
Whats really funny, is this tesla fraud just stacked a bunch of cells like a big rc car.
100's, idk maybe 1000's of those bad boys in a pack.
Similar to Dewalts 20v packs, which are just a few 18650's.
I'd be interested to see stats on the Tesla which you have to pay to unlock power level.
I bet if they were more common, you'd hear about more problems in those.
You are getting more into the rc realm where you are pushing draw to the max.
For now I will be sticking to gas and saving the explosive batteries for my thrower flashlights.

Yeah, they literally are a big RC car. We use practically the same cells. I was a very early adopter of converting 1/8 scale nitro cars to electric. We duct taped the cars together using airplane motors and ESCs with no low voltage cutoff. This was before the manufacturers started making purpose built electric stuff for 1/8th cars. I pretty much had a car go up in flames practically every other week! The batteries were didnt' have hard cases then either. They'd "puff" from being drawn so hard.

Tesla's software won't let the drive discharge below the 80% to keep the cells healthy.

Tesla has it's flaws, but I think a lot of this stuff is hit piece journalism.

It isn't only Teslas that have that problem. Many cars have similar problems. If you go into a river or lake with your car, chances are nothing will open. Cars are sabatoged these days, you cannot get out of them. The EMS people have to cut everything apart after an accident to get in, the seat belts might not release without cutting.

originally posted by: rickymouse
It isn't only Teslas that have that problem. Many cars have similar problems. If you go into a river or lake with your car, chances are nothing will open. Cars are sabatoged these days, you cannot get out of them. The EMS people have to cut everything apart after an accident to get in, the seat belts might not release without cutting.

All the more reason not to leave home unless you have to.

originally posted by: generik

originally posted by: Edumakated

originally posted by: lakenheath24
Dude...exactly.....the retractable door handles are OUTSIDE!!!!!
Not to defend Tesala but damn, this glaring error makes me dismiss the article as scare mongering.



a reply to: Edumakated

This quote here from the OP is ridiculous...

Omar Awan, 48, died recently after crashing his Tesla. The Tesla caught fire, but unfortunately Mr. Awan got trapped inside the car and subsequently burned alive, as the Tesla's door handles were retractable and did not open, which would have otherwise allowed him to simply step out of the vehicle.

I've noticed a trend of turning one off events related to Tesla's as some sort of indication of a problem. THere are literally a couple million Tesla's on the road now. You are going to have a handful of crashes and weird sh*t happen. Every car does...

that is a wee bit of hyperbole. has Tesla even produced ONE million cars? and yet even with that limited number of vehicles, there does in fact seem to be an awful lot of them catching fire. other companies do in fact have millions of cars on the roads, and at the same time not so many catching fire. in fact while car fires do happen, it is not all that common. in fact the one car that did in fact have a record for fires was the Ford Pinto. which due to a simple design failure had one bolt that in a rear end accident would puncture the gas tank, and at the same time provide a spark for ignition of fuel vapour. something that was easily fixed. although the Pinto became something no one wanted just due to it's reputation, even after the issue was fixed. and yet the same thing has not happened because with the Tesla unlike the Pinto, not a huge news item being spread around the media damming it. i guess doing so would be against their "green agenda".

car fires are really not all that common. and other than the Pinto and Tesla are normally due to maintenance issues. things like faulty fuel lines as well as things like coolant, brake fluid and oil spills and leaks onto the exhaust system. the Problem with the Tesla however is it's battery. pretty much the same problem as the batteries in cellphones and many other higher power electronics. an issue inherent with the newer types of batteries. where they can overheat and combust. from causes such as short circuits, charging issues, and even just too much power draw on them. and even worse which i would suspect is what would be at fault in this case, especially since it would seem it caught fire more than once after being put out. is damage to the battery. it seems these newer high power batteries don't like being exposed to everyday air. which makes it a major problem for powering a car. since cars tend to get into accidents, which of course have a decent chance of damaging said battery and exposing it to the air. now car fires even after accidents in a normal gas, diesel, and even things like propane are rather rare. in fact even when said fuel is leaking from things like ruptured gas tanks and fuel lines, it takes a source of ignition to set it on fire. with these batteries it seems all it takes for a fire is damage to the battery, which makes a huge difference in safety. adding in the overheating/combustion issue just makes that safety issue even worse. and unlike with the Pinto, there is no simple "quick fix, to correct these issues.

at this point one has to wonder why the company Tesla is not shut down as a fire hazard. since it is not only their cars that have fire issues. but they also have fire issues with their solar panels catching fire. both supposedly "green energy", which is likely why media has not played up the dangers of Tesla products. sure they report on some of the fires Tesla products cause here and there. but they have not put nearly the hype and fear mongering into it like they did with the Pinto. which of course would scare people away from likely not just Tesla, but all similar types of "green energy". which of course would hurt their agenda.

Like a gasoline vehicle isn’t a bomb on wheels?
It’s simple science, controlling the release of energy, doesn’t really matter if it's lithium ion or gasoline.
Both have great potential for a long slow release of energy, and a tiny chance of letting it all go at once.

Gasoline vehicles are just the norm, so we’re use to people dying from them. Ever see fight club?
Cost analysis needs to be done on a recall or out of court settlement, which ever costs less is what they’re going with.

We’ve become accustomed to gasoline cars killing us, battery powered vehicles are still new and safer imo.

i am compeled to point out that :

his vehicle impacted a tree at > 75 mph

originally posted by: lakenheath24
Dude...exactly.....the retractable door handles are OUTSIDE!!!!!
Not to defend Tesala but damn, this glaring error makes me dismiss the article as scare mongering.



a reply to: Edumakated

In all fairness, that makes rescue one step more difficult. Even if he could unlock the door inside, an outside person can't help. You would have to wait for someone with window breaking tools.