Tesla Fire #3 - Stock Tumbles - Again

why would i be talking about conversion pips? people make all kind of diy mistakes. what happened during hurricane sandy, pips spontaneously combust?

 

Third Tesla Model S Fire: The Owner’s Story!

 

what up with these trailer hitches? i've never seen much debris on the highways around here, much less something like that.

 

Usually just tire ply separation pieces on the road!

 

exactly.

 

...yes due to sea water flooding, but I cannot recall for sure if it was PiP's or regular Prii...I think PiPs

EDIT: So much for my memory, article says both PiP and Prii
Hurricane Sandy Reveals A Flaw in the Toyota Prius | Tom's Foreign Auto Parts - Quality Used Auto Parts

 

Around an inch leaves the Tesla S at 5 inches or the high 4 point something in clearance. The C6(refers to generation, the newest Corvette ground clearance specs haven't been published) has a ground clearance of 3.7 inches to 3.2 for the high end model. That's just to show that the S is no where near too low in terms of where performance oriented cars are at.

 

As report by onboard telemetrics, the cumulative distance traveled by Volts on the road just turned a half of a billion miles yesterday. With over 50,000 sold, that should mean at least hundreds of accidents in all those years and miles yet I have not seen one fire reported including this huge accident:

Volt sacrifices self, saves young woman from drunk

 

But, a lot of people (even posters here) just don't check things.

 

Just to be clear, I priced one with the charging and longer range options only and it was $72,000. It's only a $100k car if you full option it out.

 

A pickup truck carrying furnishings one lane over on the interstate, lost a chair, which bounced into my lane. It took out part of my front bumper, but mainly impacted under the engine, destroying some parts. Tow truck was able to free the chair, and we duct tapped some parts up, and I was able to drive (was in middle of nowhere). Caused $3500 damage to that previous car (one before my prius) resulting in my paying my deductable, as I wasn't looking for the trucks license plate to charge him, just trying to avoid the rolling chair. I'm sure those metal bits might have pushed into a battery in the same area. This stuff happens, its not often but it happens.

I assume it was a collision front of tesla to back of a vehicle with a hitched that caused damage, but I don't know.

 

The way the media is viewing the issue and the way Tesla engineering is approaching the issue are probably completely different.

Media view is there is a story to report....or make up a bigger story.

The Tesla view is something along the lines of seeing a payoff of reenforce the very front underbody protection and possibly some other very straightforward sensing technologies for determining front penetration/damage very accurately. To a good engineer, the reality of what has happened needs to be addressed, not the politics. Damaging debris has clearly shown a propensity to punch the underbody battery protection as the most likely issue to address to improve safety. Doing so is not an admission of a problem (except to adversaries), but how real improvements take place.

 

It was on an interstate. If it happened to me, and I thought I could make it to the next exit, I would do that than pull over to look underneath the car with 60 to 70mph traffic whizzing by.

The smart suspension can pop the car up to 7.3 inches for clearing too high speed humps and driveways. I wonder if it could do so fast enough if the car could sense a collision with the front belly pan at high speeds. Would be be too disconcerting to the driver, and risk instability to the driver to do so?

 

as it leaps over tall buildings ... up up and away ...

 

I thought fire like this should not happen because the cells are spaced far enough to prevent thermal run away of the entire pack.

 

There is a big difference between internal thermal runaway and massive direct shorts from external sources.

 

Source: NFPA’s “Automobile Fires in the U.S.: 2006-2010 Estimates” report by Marty Ahrens, September 2012.

 

The pack is compartmentalized with fire breaks and walls. In the two road debris cases, the collision was to the front of the pack, and that is where the fire was contained. At least long enough to get the car safely stopped, and the occupants out of the car. Without intervention, the entire car might eventually go up. In that case, the fire would likely spread to the plastics used in the rest of the car before the rest of the battery.

Whatever caused these fires defeated the armor plating, and may have defeated some internal fire walls. The case will be intact if a cell goes off from internal problems.

 

The statement from the Tesla owner in the third fire is really interesting -- the guy is a doctor, writes well and gives a fair account.