Third Tesla Fire Means Feds To Begin Review

cartechboy writes "In early October, a Tesla caught on fire in Washington state — and that created a little bit of a stir. Then just before Halloween a second Tesla caught fire. Yesterday, a third Model S caught fire in Tennessee. With the third fire in the books, all happening in similar fashion, today federal investigators are saying they are going to take a look at the situation more closely. As electric car maker's stock shares continue to tumble, some are saying the fires aren't a big deal."

Help is available for Elon.

[tazan]

Maybe he can get the Boeing engineers to help him figure it out.

Re:If these fires happened with traditional cars..

[mythosaz]

Recalls due to manufacturing defects that cause car fires have happened many times.

Narrator: A new car built by my company leaves somewhere traveling at 60 mph. The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now, should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one.
Business woman on plane: Are there a lot of these kinds of accidents?
Narrator: You wouldn't believe.
Business woman on plane: Which car company do you work for?
Narrator: A major one.

Re:LOL Tesla

[master5o1]

100% of internal combustion engines catch fire, somewhere within the car.

Re:LOL Tesla

[amiga3D]

I remember back around 1991 or so a friend of mine was looking out at the parking lot from our building at a burning car. It was over a half mile away and he said "some poor son of a bitch is going to have a bad day." About 30 minutes later the security police turned up looking for him, he was the poor son of a bitch. The electrical system on his Ford Bronco had caught fire and it burned to scrap in a few minutes. It turns out it wasn't an uncommon thing either, a lot of them did that. We had fun telling him his Bronco was really a Blazer.

I seem to remember tales of "Tucker"

[erroneus]

The other auto manufacturers did much to interfere and even sabotage the Tucker. While the Tucker had enough of its own problems, some were suspect and other problems came from the outside when it came to resources for materials and a bit of bad press.

I acknowledge that the fires could very well be from an actual problem in this car, but with as much other crap Tesla has gone through, I wouldn't entirely rule out various forms of sabotage. We've already seen what Texas Auto Dealers Association can do.

Re:Comment

[Anonymous Coward]

Follow-up statement:

"I will sue the living fuck out of anybody who publishes this story without extensive and repetitive context regarding the number of fires in gasoline cars. I've beaten the New York Times so I can beat your podunk little rag at a whim. Bow before me for my name is Musk."

Re:LOL Tesla

[Jeremi]

But I thought fuel cells were what was unsafe not Tesla cars? Isn't that what Musk wanted us all to believe?

Fuel cell cars are extremely safe -- since nobody can afford to buy one, nobody can get hurt in one.

Re: LOL Tesla

[hb253]

Once a vehicle is associated with a church, it's doomed. Over the years, I have seen so many reports of church vans going over cliffs, crashing and burning, etc etc. Whenever I am near one on the road, I make sure to put some distance between my car and the van as quickly as possible.

Re:Gasoline is FAR safer

[organgtool]

The denominator is the bottom number in the fraction